by Daisy Styles
‘Bring Ollie here!’ Ava exclaimed. ‘He can stay in the kitchen with me, or help Peter in the garden. I’ll keep an eye on him ‒ it’ll be a pleasure,’ she assured Tom.
The next morning, Tom appeared in the kitchen just after breakfast. Holding his son’s hand, he introduced Ollie to Ava, who was instantly captivated by the boy, who had Tom’s wonderful hazel eyes and wide, infectious smile.
‘I’m Ava,’ she said, kneeling down so she was on the same level as Ollie, who hid behind his father. ‘We could make some jam tarts for when your dad gets back from work?’ she added persuasively.
Ollie peeped out from behind Tom and smiled a charming, gap-toothed smile.
‘Please can I have a jam tart, too, please?’
That morning, using the strawberries that grew in profusion on Ruby’s dad’s allotment, Ava and Oliver managed to make a few jam tarts before Ava had to help with serving lunch to the code girls upstairs. After lunch, Bella suggested that Ava took the little boy on to Holkham beach for a play. ‘He’s been cooped up all morning ‒ he’ll enjoy a romp on the beach in the sunshine.’
As Ava dithered, Bella spun her around to face the back door. ‘Off you go, we can manage the tea,’ Bella insisted.
‘Don’t forget to take a picnic!’ Maudie called.
‘And a beach ball,’ Ruby added. ‘There’s an old one in the bicycle shed.’
So, in the heat of the day, with the giggling little boy perched on the back of her bike and clutching a small picnic basket, Ava cycled down the long, tree-lined path that led to Holkham beach.
‘Wheee!’ squeaked Ollie as they bounced over the dry, rutted track.
At the end of the drive, the path divided: one way directly to the beach, the other way through the dark pine forest.
‘Let’s cut through the forest, it’ll be cooler,’ Ava suggested, as she propped the bike up against a tree and helped Ollie climb down.
When she held out her hand for his, Ava wondered if he’d take it. When he did, quite spontaneously, she smiled with pleasure. Clutching his little hand in hers, they skipped along the criss-crossing paths that led up and down and round and round the dense forest. The tall pines soughed in the warm breeze blowing inland from the sea. Feeling like a six-year-old herself, Ava said, ‘Let’s play hide and seek!’
‘Yes!’ he squeaked.
‘You run and hide,’ she said. ‘I’ll stay here and count to twenty, then I’ll come and find you.’
Ollie grinned, showing the sweet gap in his front teeth. ‘Start counting, Avie!’ he yelled, and ran into a belt of trees and disappeared from view.
With her eyes closed Ava counted, ‘… fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty!’ she bellowed. ‘Coming, ready or not!’
Ava cocked her head as she listened out for tell-tale sounds. Thinking she’d heard a little cough, she bounded over a sandy hill, then ran down it and stopped short. Before her stood a ring of trees: was Ollie there, or was he hiding further on, in the sand dunes?
‘I’m coming to get you!’ she cried out in a spooky voice.
Hearing a high-pitched squeal, Ava raced towards the trees, where she found the little boy hiding in some bushes growing around the base of the pines.
‘Got ya!’ she giggled. ‘Now it’s your turn to find me. Close your eyes and count to twenty,’ she instructed, as she skipped away.
Terrified that she might lose sight of the little boy in the dense forest, Ava made sure she stayed within eye contact of Ollie when he came searching for her.
‘Got ya!’ he cried, copying her words to him. ‘I’m a good finder,’ he added proudly.
‘And I’m not a very good hider,’ she joked.
After a few more games of hide and seek, they came out of the forest and on to the sand dunes, where they ran along narrow, silvery rabbit paths which, after a while, led them to the sea. Ollie’s eyes widened in wonder when he saw the sweeping, vast arc of Holkham’s glorious golden beach, which ran down to the edges of the softly lapping sea.
‘Can we play football?’ Ollie asked politely, longingly eyeing the ball they’d brought along with them.
‘Of course, but have a drink first, lovie,’ Ava suggested. ‘You need plenty of liquid, or you’ll get a headache in this heat.’
Ollie impatiently gulped back mouthfuls of barley water before grabbing the beach ball from the picnic basket and booting it to Ava, who booted it back.
‘Run after it!’ she cried, as Ollie tore along the dazzling golden beach in pursuit of the rolling ball.
Ava watched him go with a lump in her throat. Ollie was wearing a pair of white plimsolls and ran as fast as his little legs would take him. Squeaking and squealing with joy as seagulls wheeled over his head, he looked so small and vulnerable against the backdrop of the majestic, sweeping shore.
‘Yeahhh!’ he laughed, as he raced away.
Filled with the same childlike joie de vivre, Ava dumped the picnic basket in a nearby sand dune and, laughing too, she gave chase.
‘Wait for me!’
She caught up with Ollie near the water’s edge. Breathless from running, she called out, ‘Take your shoes and socks off, then we can paddle in the shallows.’
As the ball floated on the gentle waves, they both made lunges to pick it up. Suddenly, Ollie’s attention was caught by something round and grey floating close by.
‘Look, Avie, another ball!’ he cried.
Ava squinted at the round thing he was pointing to. As it drifted inland, she frowned. It didn’t look much like a beach ball, and there was an odd, pointy thing poking out of the top of it. As over-excited Ollie raced to pick it up, Ava realized that the ball was a landmine.
‘Oh, Jesus, no!!!!’ she screamed. ‘Ollie! No!’
Either he couldn’t hear her warning over the crashing waves or he was too excited to listen. Ollie waded on.
‘God help me!’ Ava gasped, as she splashed after the boy. As the water got deeper, she threw herself fully dressed into the waves and swam, all the time calling out, ‘Get back, Ollie! Get back!’ As soon as she had caught up with him, Ava flung an arm out and pulled him backwards. ‘Run!’ she screamed, as she leapt to her feet and ran with him. ‘GO!!’
Making sure she was between the incoming landmine and the terrified boy, she cried out to him.
‘Don’t stop, Ollie! Run back to the hall!’ she screamed, frantically waving her arms as she urged the breathless child to run for his life.
When the landmine rolled on to the shore, it exploded, sending showers of shrapnel everywhere. With her back to it, Ava caught the full blast and fell to the ground. Seconds before losing consciousness, she saw Ollie in the distance, running for the sand dunes.
Back at the hall, Bella was beginning to worry about Ava and Ollie. ‘They only went for a picnic, but they’ve been gone for hours now.’
‘Maybe Ava’s bike’s got a puncture,’ Maudie suggested. ‘She might be pushing it back. I don’t envy her, in this heat.’
As Maudie, Ruby and Bella were busy making the trainees’ tea, little Ollie came staggering into the kitchen. Having run all the way across the wide beach, then down the long drive, the boy was virtually on the point of collapsing. Maudie grabbed hold of him as he swayed in the kitchen doorway.
‘Lovie! What’s happened?’
Maudie settled him in one of the Windsor chairs then brought a mug of cold water, which he downed in one.
‘Take it easy,’ she said, wiping his damp forehead. Gradually, Ollie’s breathing steadied.
‘Can you tell us where Ava is, sweetheart?’ she asked softly.
Looking petrified, the poor child burst into floods of tears. ‘Avie blown up on beach!’
The terrified girls forced themselves to stay calm.
‘Did you see her getting hurt?’ Maudie pressed on.
Ollie nodded. ‘She told me to run away, then the beach ball blew up.’
‘Oh, dear Jesus!’ Bella cried, heading for the door. ‘I’
ll get Peter – and the jeep.’
‘I’ll stay here with the child,’ Ruby said, putting an arm around the sobbing boy.
‘Get hold of Tom!’ Maudie said, as she and Bella headed for the door. ‘And phone 999!’
Peter drove them at break-neck speed across the wide beach, where they spotted a small group of anxious holiday-makers. As they got closer, they could see they were trying to cover the body lying prone on the beach with blankets and coats.
‘Stand back!’ yelled Peter as he pulled up, and Maudie and Bella jumped out of the cab.
‘Oh, God!’ Bella gasped, as she raced towards her friend. ‘Please be OK, Ava. Please don’t be dead.’
Crouched beside Ava’s body, Bella gently felt her pulse. ‘She’s alive!’ she sobbed.
Maudie tenderly touched Ava’s marble-cold face. ‘She’s soaking wet – she’ll freeze to death!’
‘We wrapped blankets around her to try to keep her warm,’ an anxious woman said, ‘but her clothes are wet through.’
‘We can’t move her,’ Bella said tensely. ‘We have to wait for the ambulance.’
The sound of a distant siren, when it came, was music to their ears. After making its way across Holkham beach, an ambulance stopped close to Ava. Two sturdy females, a nurse and a driver, swiftly stepped out of the cab and, with impressive expertise, lifted Ava on to a stretcher, which they then loaded into the back of the ambulance. Slamming the doors, the nurse joined the driver in the cab.
‘Where are you taking her?’ Bella cried. ‘Where are you going?’
As the siren shrieked out and the ambulance pulled away, the nurse yelled out of the open window, ‘Wells Cottage Hospital.’
When Ava came round just over an hour later, Bella was on one side of her and Maudie on the other. Through cracked lips, she whispered hoarsely, ‘Ollie …?’
‘He’s safe with Ruby,’ Maudie answered gently.
‘Tom …?’
‘On his way.’
Seeing Ava stirring, the sister bustled the two girls out of the ward and quickly drew the curtains around the patient’s bed. Maudie and Bella sat in the waiting room holding hands, hardly able to talk. Tom arrived about half an hour later, looking wild with fear.
‘I got here as soon as I could – how is she?”
‘We don’t know,’ Maudie answered.
Seeing Tom’s terrified expression, Bella quickly said, ‘She’s conscious.’
Trembling, Tom sat down beside them. ‘The police told me it was a landmine.’
‘It looks like Ava took the force of the blast, but not before telling Ollie to run away, to run back to the hall,’ Bella told Tom.
Tom put his head in his hands and wept. ‘My beautiful, brave girl …’
Maudie and Bella put comforting arms around his shaking shoulders.
‘Typical of Ava to think of herself last,’ Maudie said, as tears stung the back of her eyes.
As they waited for what seemed like hours, they all began to worry about Ruby and Ollie back at the hall.
‘It’s not fair to leave Ruby holding the fort,’ Maudie fretted.
‘And she’s got Ollie, too,’ Tom said. ‘I hope she’ll be all right?’
Bella, who was resolute about not leaving, replied firmly, ‘The Brig’s there, too. They’ll sort something out between them.’
Just before seven o’clock, the doctor and the ward sister joined them in the waiting room.
‘She’s going to pull through,’ the doctor announced.
Maudie, Bella and Tom grabbed hold of each other. ‘Thank God!’ they cried in unison.
‘She took a huge hit,’ the doctor continued. ‘Flying shrapnel hit the back of her skull, and she has some very deep lacerations.’ Seeing that Ava’s tense friends hardly dared to breathe, the doctor quickly added, ‘She’s young and strong. She’ll make it.’ He gave a brief, reassuring smile. ‘I should warn you before you see her: we had to shave off her hair to stitch the wounds at the back of her skull.’
The stern ward sister allowed the three visitors five minutes with Ava, who’d been heavily sedated. They hid their shock at the sight of her shaved head, criss-crossed with dressings.
‘Darling …’ Tom said, and fell to his knees at the side of her bed so he could kiss Ava’s limp fingers.
Tears trickled softly down her pale cheeks as she whispered, ‘Sorry …’
‘No, no,’ Tom whispered, softly and urgently. ‘You saved Oliver’s life. You saved my son, Ava.’
Ava smiled weakly as sleep engulfed her.
21. Summertime
Ava was hospitalized for three weeks. She was allowed a limited number of visitors, but strictly no children were allowed on the ward. As much as Tom begged and pleaded, the ward sister was intractable.
‘But my son wants to thank the woman who saved his life,’ Tom implored.
As the granite-faced sister turned away from Tom, she caught sight of the small boy at his side. He had a wide, gap-toothed smile and arresting hazel eyes, and in his hands he clutched a small bunch of crumpled roses.
‘Please will you give these to Avie,’ he mumbled.
There was no guile in the child, just simple gratitude, which touched the sister, who for five minutes every day slipped Ollie on to the ward so he could have a cuddle with Ava. He didn’t mind her shaved head and bandages, he just wanted to hold her hand and talk about playing hide and seek in the pine woods, which he solemnly told Ava was much more fun than playing with the beach-ball bomb!
‘You’re right there, lovie,’ Ava said, smiling at Tom over the top of Ollie’s head. ‘That beach-ball bomb was no fun at all!’
Tom kissed her outstretched hand. God, he was falling head over heels in love with her before the accident, but now he unequivocally adored the brave, beautiful woman lying on the hospital bed before him. The ward sister called father and son ‘the fan club’, because they both spent their brief visiting time staring in delight at their adored Ava. Ollie’s last visit before going back to his mother was hard – he, Tom and Ava all fought back tears when the little boy said his final farewell.
‘I’ll ask Mummy if I can come back soon,’ he promised.
‘My hair might have grown back by then,’ Ava joked.
‘Next time, we’ll all go riding on Holkham beach,’ Tom announced.
‘Really?’ Ollie cried.
Ava’s lovely deep blue eyes lit up with excitement as she said, ‘We’ll borrow Tara, the Shetland pony, from the Walsingham stables. She’s a bit tubby at the moment, but I’ll have her trimmed down for your next visit,’ she said, then, pulling the child to her, she added, ‘Now, come on, give us a big kiss before you go.’
With tears in her eyes, Ava blew kisses as Ollie left the ward.
‘Safe journey home, sweetheart, God bless.’
Ava was allowed to phone her family while she was in Wells Cottage Hospital. Her mother was desperate to visit, but Ava sensed she was frightened of the long journey into the unknown, and her father, warden of several local bomb shelters, certainly couldn’t take time off. She assured her parents she was making a good recovery and promised she’d let them know as soon as she was discharged.
When Ava was allowed home, the doctor made it crystal clear to Tom, Bella, Maudie and Ruby that she had to rest.
‘She absolutely cannot go running around,’ he stated.
‘Try stopping her,’ Ruby chuckled under her breath.
‘I’m deadly serious,’ the doctor added. ‘She’s had eighteen stitches across the back of her skull, and more subcutaneously. I can only allow her home if you promise to keep an eye on her – the more rest she gets, the sooner her wounds will heal.’
‘We’ll make sure of it,’ Bella promised. ‘Even if it means strapping her to the bedpost!’
It was a gloriously hot day when Ava arrived back at Walsingham Hall. As Tom drove up the winding drive, Ava, who’d been hospitalized for weeks, blinked in the bright sunlight and gasped at the sight of the fragra
nt summer flowers growing in tumbling abundance in the gardens: roses, larkspur, delphiniums, peonies, phlox, lilies and carnations.
‘The world’s so beautiful,’ she sighed, leaning against Tom’s strong shoulder.
‘The world’s more beautiful for having you in it, my sweet,’ he murmured, stroking her hand.
When Tom pulled up at the front door of the hall, Bella and the Brig, Maudie and Kit, and Ruby and Raf cheered in delight.
‘Welcome home, Ava!’
The young woman who Tom helped out of the Land Rover looked quite unlike the laughing, long-haired girl who’d cycled down the drive to take Oliver for a picnic less than a month ago. As well as her shaven head, Ava had lost weight during her stay in hospital. Her high cheekbones were more pronounced and her clothes hung off her slim frame.
‘Home …’ Ava smiled as she stared up at the golden stone Palladian columns of the beautifully proportioned hall. ‘Who would ever have thought I would call this stately pile my home?’ she joked.
After a cup of tea and a slice of seed cake in the kitchen, Ava was shown to her bed, where she was instructed to lie down and rest.
‘I’ll go mad, staring at the bloody ceiling,’ she complained.
‘I’ll go mad if you so much as lift a spoon!’ Maudie threatened.
Ruby pointed at Ava’s bedside table, where they’d placed a vase of pink-and-white roses, alongside a jug of lemon-and-barley water, and a copy of Gone with the Wind. On the floor beside the bed the girls had put the big Bakelite kitchen radio.
‘I can’t have that!’ Ava protested. ‘You need it to listen to “Music while You Work!” ’
‘You need it more,’ Bella answered firmly. ‘Now, rest!’
Left alone, Ava did sleep. When she was awake, however, there was always somebody keen to pop in and chat to her, and her friends went out of their way to make her treats to tempt her rather weak appetite. Using their own sugar rations, they made little fruit jellies and soft blancmanges, while Peter brought a few fresh raspberries or a little bunch of redcurrants from his greenhouse. Bella picked some salty samphire from the marshes, which she served on toast, with some home-potted shrimps.
