The only way she knew they’d reached the bridge was when she heard the bottom of the car hit the wood. There was a hollow sound that incongruously made her think of The Three Billy Goats Gruff.
When they hit the road again and the bridge was behind them, they both yelled in triumph.
And that was when they saw the cow. The rain had washed enough of the mud off the windshield that they could see, and lazily walking across the road, as though she had all the time in the world, was a huge black and white cow.
“Hold on!” David yelled as he tried to move the heavy car to the side and not hit the cow. At the moment, he wouldn’t have cared if he smashed the thing, but a cow that big would make them crash.
But they crashed anyway. The car hit the hedgerow at the side of the road, went into a spin, then turned around twice before heading back toward the bridge. David fought the big steering wheel with all his might, but then the leg brace tightened up on him and he couldn’t move his knee. While turning the wheel, he had to lean toward Edi as he fought to get the clutch all the way to the floor so he could downshift and try to slow the car. But the clutch, the brake, and the mud were all too much for him and the old car.
The car flipped over, Edi tumbled upside down, and the big car slipped on its top down into the river, beside the bridge that they’d just successfully crossed.
For a few seconds both of them were stunned, not able to realize what had just happened. There was blood on the side of David’s head and Edi’s right arm hurt.
“You have to get out,” David said, reaching for her.
She’d been thrown, so she was on the roof of the overturned car, but David was still behind the wheel and hanging with his head down. She followed his eyes and saw that the water was rising around them. The only thing keeping the water out was the closed windows of the car—but that wouldn’t last long.
“Yes,” she managed to say. She was dazed, not sure what was happening. “I’ll open the window and we’ll swim out.” She was pleased that she’d been able to see what needed to be done.
“Can you swim?” he asked.
“Yes, quite well,” she answered. Her head was clearing with each second. “What about you?”
“High school swim team,” he said and gave her his little grin that she’d seen several times.
“Okay, then,” she said. “Are you ready? We need to go as soon as I get the window down.”
“Hey, Harcourt,” he said softly. “A favor? How about a kiss before you go?”
“A kiss? You think that now is the time to—” She broke off when she realized what he’d said repeatedly. When she went, not him, just her. “What’s wrong with you?”
“It’s this damned brace,” he said. “Bad luck on my part. It’s steel and it’s stuck. I can’t get out.”
Edi gave a look out at the water surrounding them and the rain still coming down hard. In minutes they were going to be completely underwater and the pressure would probably burst the windows and they’d drown.
It wasn’t easy to get her long legs and arms twisted around so she was upright and she could get to his legs, but she did it. His foot was trapped under the crushed pedals of the car, and there was another piece of metal that had stopped at his calf.
“Just move your leg, bend at the knee, and take it out. Is your leg broken?”
“I don’t think so, but it’s encased in a steel brace. You need to go. There isn’t time to waste. You have to—”
“Shut up,” she said. “How do I get you out of this thing?”
“You can’t. You aren’t strong enough. My leg is trapped under some steel and—”
“Just for once in your life stop talking!” she shouted. “How do I move the brace?”
“In my pocket there’s an Allen wrench. It’s—”
“I know what an Allen wrench is.” For the first time, she saw that his right arm was bleeding. He couldn’t get inside his own pocket. She moved so she was lying across him, then stuck her hand down deep into his pocket and found the little piece of metal.
The second she had it, the window in the back of the car cracked and the interior started filling with water.
“Three screws in the round hinge at the knee,” David said. “You should go. Give me the wrench and get out of here.”
Because the car was upside down, the last place to be filled was where David’s feet were trapped, but his head was near the roof. Even if she got him loose, he might still drown before she could get him out of the car.
Edi half stood, half knelt on the roof as she reached up and pushed David’s trouser leg back and tried to find the screws on the hinge to loosen them. She found one, twisted, and it moved. But she could feel the water around her legs.
She looked down and David’s head was almost underwater. He was bending as far forward as he could, but he couldn’t move much because of the huge steering wheel across the front of him.
Edi took a deep breath, went under the water, looked at David, and touched his lips. It took him a full second to realize what she meant. She kissed him all right: she released air into his mouth, then went back up to the brace.
She got the second screw loose, then took another breath and went under to give air to David.
The third screw stuck, and she thought she wasn’t going to get it loosened. There were only inches of air space in the car now. She went under again to give him more oxygen and he motioned for her to get out. She didn’t waste her time shaking her head no.
She had to put her face up against the roof to get a breath of air, then she went under to loosen the last screw. When the hinge gave way, she gave a hard push on his leg and it moved. He was free!
Edi went downward, toward David’s face to tell him to help her get him out, but his eyes were closed, and he was limp. She pushed out with her legs to get to the roof for more air, but the car was full of water. There was no air to be had.
Already, her lungs were hurting. She reached across David to the big handle that turned the window and cranked it. It was difficult to move and she could feel her arms giving out and her head was feeling light. But she got the big window down enough that she thought she could get him out.
The water made him lighter, so she was able to maneuver him toward the window enough that the current of the river seemed to suck him away. Edi nearly panicked when David’s body disappeared, but in the next second the current grabbed her too and she went flying upward.
When she came to the surface she took a deep breath, then was pulled down again. The next time she came up, she looked for David, and saw him entangled in the roots of a tree just a few feet away. His eyes were closed, but at least his head wasn’t under water.
She tried to swim to him, but the current was pulling her in the opposite direction.
“Grab this,” came a voice, and she turned to see a long pole just inches from her head. It seemed to be attached to something but she couldn’t see what, nor could she see who had spoken. She had to lunge at the pole twice before she caught it, then she held on with both arms.
“Him!” she yelled to the unseen person who’d saved her. “In the trees. There!”
Edi held on to the pole with her arms and swiped the water out of her eyes as she saw someone in a green coat on the bank. From the shape of him, with his hunched back, he looked to be an old man. But he was obviously strong as he pulled David by his collar and dragged him out of the water as though he were a big fish he’d just caught.
Edi was battling hair and rain to see what was going on, but she didn’t dare let go of the pole. Turning to her left, she saw that it was part of the bridge, maybe something used to ferry barges across the river. Slowly, she began to use her arms to pull herself along to try to reach the end of the bridge and the land.
As she moved, she wondered what the man was doing with Sergeant Clare. Would the old man think he was dead and make no attempt to save him? If Edi could get to him she thought maybe she could apply some modern lifesaving technique
s, and maybe she could get the water out of Sergeant Clare’s lungs so he wouldn’t die.
“Come on!” she heard a man shout. “Only another foot and you’re home.”
Her arms were killing her and she was shaking with cold and fatigue, but she looked up and saw Sergeant Clare standing there. The rain was so hard and the mist so dense that she thought maybe she was seeing a ghost. Had he died and his spirit come back to help her across the raging river?
“Come on, Harcourt!” he shouted. “Get your back into it. I’d come out there and save you but I’m too beat up. You’ll have to do something for yourself this time. You can’t always depend on me to save you.”
“You?” she managed to say. “Why you—” As anger surged through her, she began to kick with her long legs and she pulled harder on the pole. But even with her anger and her renewed energy, she was giving out. Instead of coming closer, the bridge seemed to be going farther away.
She blinked hard to clear the water out of her eyes, but things were going hazy.
In the next minute, she felt a strong arm around her. “I have you now,” she heard in her ear. “You’re safe now. Let go of that thing and let me have you.”
She obeyed the voice. Her arms fell away from the metal and went around his neck, and her head collapsed against him. She felt him carry her out of the water, and she felt someone else’s hands on her.
“She dead?” she heard a man ask.
“No,” she heard Sergeant Clare say. He was carrying her and she could feel the drag of his leg from the brace that he still wore. All she’d done was loosen the knee hinge; she hadn’t removed it.
“Your arm?” she managed to whisper as she remembered that it had been bleeding.
“I can’t figure out if my arm hurts more or my leg. The dilemma is keeping me from fainting.”
“Good,” she said as she snuggled closer to him. She closed her eyes and went to sleep.
When Edi awoke, she was in a bed on a soft mattress and there was sunlight coming through the window. Her head ached and her arm was sore, but she didn’t feel too bad. She looked about the room. It was small, with flowered wallpaper, and two beds. The bed beside hers was made up with an old quilt and fat pillows. There was a big old wardrobe against one wall and a dressing table along the other. The facing wall had a window with lace curtains.
When she tried to sit up, she was a bit dizzy, but her head cleared in a minute. She heard a soft knock on the door, then Sergeant Clare came in carrying a tray with one arm. His right arm was in a sling.
“You’re awake,” he said, smiling, then gave his concentration back to the tray when it nearly unbalanced.
“Let me—” Edi began as she started to get out of bed, but then she realized she was wearing only her peach rayon teddy. She hastily pulled the covers back over her. “Where are my clothes?”
“In the kitchen, dry and waiting for you,” David said as he set the tray down on the end of her bed, then stood up and flexed his arm. “You can stop looking at me like I’m about to attack you. It’s too late for modesty.”
Edi didn’t drop the covers from around her neck. “What does that mean?”
He sat down on the opposite bed, picked up a toast wedge, and began to eat it. “If you don’t want that food, I’ll take it.”
“I need something to put on,” she said.
Reluctantly, he got up, went to the wardrobe, and pulled out a man’s shirt. It was huge and nearly worn out, but Edi took it and put her arms in the sleeves. When she was covered, she bent toward the tray and poured herself a cup of tea. “Tell me what happened,” she said. “Where are we? How soon can we get out of here and get the magazine?”
“Which answer do you want first?”
“All of them,” she said.
“The accident happened yesterday and we’re now at the home of Hamish Trumbull.”
Edi stopped with a piece of toast to her mouth.
“It seems that Mrs. Pettigrew was so sure we wouldn’t make it over the bridge that she called a neighbor who told ol’ Hamish to get down to the river to save us.”
“But you did make it over the bridge,” Edi said, sounding affronted. “If it hadn’t been for that cow—”
“Who, by the way, belongs to Hamish.”
“If it hadn’t been for his cow, we would have made it.”
“Thank you,” David said. “That’s just what I told Hamish, but he didn’t believe me. He says we missed the bridge and went into the river upside down. He says I’m the worst driver he’s ever seen.”
“You should have hit his cow,” Edi said, her mouth full.
“My sentiments exactly. Here, let me pour that for you.” David used his left arm and his right hand to maneuver the teapot, his leg held stiffly out from his body.
“So what’s the story on the magazine?” Edi asked.
“The granddaughter Aggie has it and no one knows where she is.”
Edi groaned. “How old is she to be out unsupervised?”
“Sixteen and her goose is cooked. She told Mrs. Pettigrew that she was going home to Gramps, and told Gramps she had to work. Poor kid. When she does show up, she’s in for it.”
“So how long do we have to wait for her to return from wherever she is?”
“Us,” David said as he got up off the bed and walked to the window. “About that ‘us.’ You see, Hamish is a bit old-fashioned, and I had to tell him some fibs.”
When he didn’t say anything else, just kept looking out the window, Edi started to piece things together. “You told him we were married, didn’t you?”
“It was either that or I had to sleep in the barn. Sorry, but the feather mattress won over the straw.”
She thought about the way he’d pulled her from the water yesterday and she couldn’t begrudge him a bed. “All right, so we’re married and…what?”
David turned to her with sparkling eyes.
“In your dreams, soldier,” she said.
“If wishes were horses…” David said, then dragged his leg as he crossed the room to sit back down on the other bed. “It seems that Aggie the Missing is due back here day after tomorrow. All we can hope is that she shows up with the magazine.”
“You didn’t tell Hamish—?”
“I didn’t tell that old man anything. Mrs. Pettigrew made up a great whopping lie about the magazine being some sort of spy vehicle and the entire fate of the war resting on our getting it back. She—Why are you looking at me like that? Please tell me that isn’t true.”
“I don’t know,” she mumbled, eating the last piece of toast.
“I want you to tell me every word that you do know and don’t even think about not telling me all of it.”
It took her about four minutes to tell him all that she knew. It wasn’t much.
“So you’re to give the magazine to this man…”
“Dr. Sebastian Jellicoe.”
“Then we’re to get him to London so he can be sent back to the safety of Minnesota—or someplace in the U.S. Is that right?” David asked.
“That’s what I was told.”
“But where he lives and the map to get there is inside the car, which is now at the bottom of an overflowing river.”
Edi leaned back against the headboard. “I memorized the map.”
“You did what?”
“While you were in the front of the car, whining that nobody would talk to you, I was in the back memorizing the map. I was hoping to find the marks in the magazine and memorize them too, but I couldn’t find anything.”
“Whining?” David said, picking up on the one word. “If you were in as much pain as I was you’d be complaining too.”
“What happened to your leg?” Edi asked, and as she said it she remembered how she’d gone underwater and loosened the screws, and how she’d kissed him to give him air.
For a moment their eyes met, as he seemed to be thinking about the same thing, but he broke away and pulled up the leg of his trousers. “Your genera
l, that Satan you work for, decided that an uninjured man traveling around England would rouse too many suspicions, so he had me disabled.”
Edi looked at the bottom half of the brace and at the round hinge she knew well, and she couldn’t help it, but she started to laugh.
“I don’t see anything funny about this,” David said. “I have blisters all over my leg where it rubs against me and—Will you please stop laughing?”
“I think he did it to protect me,” Edi said, still laughing. “He’s like an old sultan, and he thinks of all of us women who work for him as his vestal virgins.”
David stopped frowning. “Yeah, he does have the most beautiful of all the women.”
“Half of them are idiots,” Edi said. “I hired a woman who could type a hundred words a minute without an error, but that old bulldog fired her because she was ugly. He said he wasn’t going to survive bombs and ugly women.”
David laughed. “She isn’t the one who works for Colonel Osborne, is she?”
Edi nodded. “She can do more work than three of Austin’s girls.”
“Except you.”
“Except me,” Edi agreed, “but I get stuck with trying to deal with all of them. One day I almost got hit by a falling roof when one of the girls ran back to get her lipstick. I told her that gunpowder was the best eye shadow there was and she was going to get plenty of it if she didn’t get moving. And you know what? She believed me!”
“You’re kidding.”
“Not at all. You know Lenny…?”
“Escobar?” David’s eyes widened. “I saw him taking the powder out of some shells. It wasn’t for—?”
“It was.”
Laughing, David moved back on the bed and lifted his leg onto it. “Okay, so now all we can do is wait until Aggie shows up and hope she has the magazine. In the meantime, I think Hamish means for you and me to stay busy.”
Lavender Morning Page 27
