Once her eyes had adjusted, Gwen scanned the space, looking for signs of interference.
The workshop was a mess, with tools, parts, boxes and papers scattered everywhere.
Just as she’d left it.
‘This way.’
Gwen took Kitty to stand on a tiny platform next to the door, not more than a couple of feet wide. It had metal railings on two sides and they had to press their bodies together to fit between them, something that Kitty took full advantage of.
Gwen shook her head in exasperation. ‘Hold on to the rail, will you? Not me.’
She turned a handle on the wall vigorously for twenty seconds, winding the spring that powered the elevator, then released the catch. The platform surged into motion and smoothly powered upwards into the rafters of the building. However, it slowed rapidly as the spring ran out of tension and jerked to a halt a couple of feet short of its destination.
When Kitty gave her a questioning look, Gwen raised an eyebrow at her and gave her a cheeky smile. ‘You’re heavier than you look.’
She laughed when the American glared at her, then climbed up off the platform and onto the catwalk that ran along the centre of the building, thirty feet above the floor.
There was no railing along the walkway and it was no wider than the elevator platform, but Gwen negotiated it with a security due to years of practice. After a few yards she realised Kitty wasn’t following her and turned to smirk at her. ‘Not afraid of heights are you?’
Kitty growled at this second insult to her in less than a minute, but still gave the walkway an apprehensive look before stepping onto it and following Gwen, wobbling as she walked, looking down at her feet, even though the walkway was easily big enough for her.
Gwen waited for her and when Kitty stopped in front of her and lifted her eyes from the floor to meet hers she grinned and pointed a finger upwards.
Hesitantly, Kitty looked up and growled again when she caught sight of the rail hanging in the shadows just above her, running the length of the catwalk, like on an omnibus. She grabbed it then turned accusing eyes on Gwen.
In reply, Gwen just stuck her tongue out then walked backwards away from her, grinning, before spinning in place and continuing to walk away without grabbing the overhead rail.
The catwalk met another running perpendicular to it in the centre of the building and there Gwen had constructed a circular observation platform, about four yards in diameter. This did have a safety rail around it and Gwen ducked under it, then began peeling back dust-sheets to reveal a two-seater sofa, a small bookshelf and a table with a small clockwork water heater along with mugs, various teas and powdered milk.
Gwen flopped onto the sofa and opened her arms wide in welcome, grinning at Kitty as she closed the last few yards to the platform. ‘Welcome to The Nest.’
Kitty planted herself in front of Gwen and glared at her angrily with her arms crossed.
Gwen pouted. ‘Don’t be like that! After all you’re only the second person I’ve showed this to. My parents don’t even know this is here.’
‘Second person? Is it supposed to make me feel better that I’m not even special enough to be the only person who you’ve brought up here?’
Gwen laughed; Kitty’s words might have been harsh, but they had been delivered with a smile and a twinkle in her eye that told her that the woman was pleased, despite the way Gwen had been playing with her. Just as Gwen had known she would be.
‘I’m sorry. If I’d got to know you earlier, say ten or twelve years ago, then I might have brought you up here first.’ Gwen batted her eyelids. ‘Can you ever forgive me?’
‘I’ll think about it.’ Kitty pursed her lips in mock annoyance, then turned to look around the small area. She spotted the bookshelf and wandered over to it.
Unlike the books in Gwen’s study in the house, most of which were heavy, leather-bound tomes, these had a more common aspect to them and quite a few of their spines were pink.
‘Now that’s more like it,’ said Kitty peering at them. ‘Adventure, romance, issues of New Aviator, more adventure... everything flying related, of course.’
She turned her head to grin at Gwen, who tilted her head in agreement. ‘Of course.’
Kitty went back to the sofa and was about to sit down when something occurred to her. ‘Hang on, how do your parents not know about this? Surely they would have had to at least provide the sofa?’
Gwen shook her head. ‘I built the catwalks and this platform myself.’ She laughed at Kitty’s disbelieving look. ‘I built my first aircraft on my own when I was seven, don’t you think I’d know how to use a welding torch and a winch? And as for the sofa, at first I just had cushions, but Rudy hated sitting on the floor when he came up here, so he bought it for me and had it delivered in secret.’
Gwen trailed off, a hitch in her voice at being reminded once more of her childhood friend, lost forever, but she recovered quickly. ‘I didn’t just build this so that I would have somewhere to rest, though; it’s a good way to get a different perspective on my projects. Take a look.’
She pointed to one of the railings and Kitty went over to it and looked down.
Directly below was a half-completed frame of a small single-springed aircraft.
Gwen stood and joined her. ‘I was working on her when I left to go to university. I was stuffing her full of innovations and she was going to be groundbreaking. I kept meaning to come back to finish her, but never got around to it and now I won’t.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because most of those innovations have already gone into the squadron’s new machines and I’ve learnt so much in the last few months with the Misfits that she’s completely obsolete anyway. Excalibur is the natural progression of what she would have been.’
Gwen stared at the aircraft for a second. She regretted not completing her; it seemed like a tragedy that she would never come alive, but there was no longer any point whatsoever in doing so and her energies were better spent elsewhere.
She pushed herself away from the railing, putting the machine out of her mind, and went over to the opposite side of the platform. ‘Never mind her, though; that is what I wanted to show you tonight.’ She pointed across the warehouse.
The catwalks effectively divided the building in four and almost an entire one of those quarters was taken up by wooden crates. However, tucked away behind them was a smooth metal object, which shone silver in the harsh electric lights.
Kitty squinted at it. It looked like a railway carriage or a streamlined Airsteam travel trailer like they made back in America and she frowned, wondering if Gwen had branched out into land vehicles at some point in her childhood. Suddenly, though, she smiled as she realised what it was. ‘That’s the gondola of your Zeppelin, isn’t it?’
Gwen grinned. ‘Good guess! Want to have a closer look?’
‘Love to!’
To get to the gondola they had to wend their way through piles of crates that towered over their heads and Kitty eyed them curiously as they went past. ‘What’s in all of these?’
‘My aircraft. Every one I’ve ever built.’
‘You kept them all?’
‘Of course.’ Gwen shrugged. ‘What else am I going to do with them? Scrap them for parts? I couldn’t do that and it’s not as if I don’t have room for them.’
‘You could always sell them. Find them a good home. They’re collector’s items now I’m sure there must be someone in England who would want an early Gwen Stone. And if you don’t want to do that, I’m sure a museum would take at least a few.’
Gwen shook her head. ‘I don’t need the money and I certainly don’t want to become the subject of some museum exhibit.’
‘It’s too late; you’re already the star of the King’s exhibition in the Crystal Palace and if you keep going the way you are, there’ll be exhibitions about you in all the museums and articles in all the text books in the world.’
Gwen curled her lip at the thought. ‘I’d never be
able to live up to that.’
‘Nobody could, but I’m sure you’ll deal with it like my grampa does, with humility and humour.’
‘And I’m sure I won’t.’
Kitty laughed. ‘Alright then, with bad temper and ingratitude.’
Gwen grinned and nodded. ‘That sounds more like me.’
They passed between the last few crates and suddenly the gleaming gondola was looming in front of them, taking up most of the space along one of the walls of the building. It had seemed far smaller from the platform than it did close up and Kitty’s mouth dropped open as she tried to take it all in.
Fully ten yards long, four or five wide and six yards tall, it was built on two storeys with plenty of room for all of the engineering compartments necessary for the safe running of the engines and management of the gas compartments as well as two bedrooms, a lounge and a dining room. It was little more than a functioning shell at the moment, though, with all the controls and machinery in place, but none of the comforts in place.
Gwen opened the emergency hatch in the side of the cockpit, the main entrance inaccessible with the gondola resting on the floor, and bowed to Kitty with a grin. ‘After you, madam.’
Even with it just being little more than bare bones, the Zeppelin’s potential was obvious and Kitty was still filled with excitement about their planned world tour as they walked back up to the house. There was one thing puzzling her, though.
‘Why the hell did you build a Zeppelin anyway? It’s not your usual style at all.’
Gwen smiled. ‘It was a school project for sixth-form engineering class. The assignment was to make something that could fly for more than an hour and, because I’d built so many aircraft already, my teacher banned me from just making another. So I branched out a bit.’
‘And the rest of it? A gondola that size needs a lot of gas to hold it up, where’s the envelope?’
‘It’s complete, but broken down and in storage in the factory down the road. I didn’t have room for it.’
‘All that just for a school project... I knew your family was rich, but that’s ridiculous!’
‘And your family is hard up? Come on, the Wright Company is one of the largest aviation corporations in the world, with fingers in more pies than a Cornish baker!’
Kitty laughed. ‘Yes, it is rather obscene, but we’re not nearly as rich as the Teslas. It’s just as well we have the Kitty Hawk Foundation and give so much of it away each year.’
They lapsed into comfortable silence as they crunched up the last few yards of the path to the house.
The feeling of nervousness that had been building up in Gwen on the walk back only increased as they went inside and climbed the stairs and reached a crescendo when they entered the bedroom.
She stood in the middle of the room, not knowing what to say or do and looked at Kitty, suddenly shy for some reason. ‘I, uh...’
Kitty was, as ever, completely sure of herself, and she stepped forward with a smile. She reached out and slowly began undoing the buttons down the front of Gwen’s coveralls, giving her a meaningful look.
Gwen chuckled, then reached out to do the same.
It didn’t take long before the two of them were completely naked, but then Kitty stopped, dropping her hands to her sides and waited for Gwen to make the first move.
Gwen swallowed the lump in her throat and licked lips that were suddenly dry. She had seen Kitty naked before, in the shower or getting changed, had seen the strong limbs, the small, firm breasts, the blonde down between her legs, but never before had she touched her. Never had she taken that last, all-important step.
She reached out and put her hand on Kitty’s arm, gently stroking her silky skin.
Kitty chuckled and the sound stuck a chord with Gwen, melting something deep inside her and making all doubt, all hesitation disappear.
Chapter 10
Gwen woke up the next morning feeling that the world had completely changed and would never be the same again. She opened her eyes to find Kitty propped on her elbow, watching her and smiled up at her sleepily. ‘Morning.’
‘Good morning.’
Kitty returned the smile, then leaned down to kiss her, but Gwen pulled back in panic and quickly covered her mouth with her hand.
‘Don’t! Morning breath!’
Kitty chuckled. ‘If suffering your stinky breath is the price I have to pay for a kiss in the mornings, then so be it.’
‘Hey!’ Gwen protested, but without any real force and she didn’t pull back again when the American bent over her once more.
Their lips had barely touched, though, before there was a loud rattling sound and Kitty looked around in alarm. ‘What the hell was that?’
Gwen groaned. ‘That means that breakfast is in ten minutes.’ She pointed at a small circular object above the door. ‘My parents installed a buzzer. It saves them having to spend their valuable time coming all the way up here to get me.’
She started to turn away, but Kitty held her back.
‘Can’t we ignore it and stay here?’
‘I’d love to, but we arranged to go around the factory with them today, remember? And if we don’t show up they’ll just send a maid or the butler to get us.’
Kitty groaned. ‘We’re never going to get any time to ourselves, are we?’
Gwen reached up and cupped Kitty’s cheek. ‘Of course we will! When the war is over we’ll have all the time in the world.’ She sat up just enough to plant a quick kiss on the American’s lips, then rolled away and swung her legs out of bed. ‘Now come on, we really don’t want to keep my parents waiting.’
Kitty groaned, but nonetheless got out of bed and followed Gwen across the room to the cupboard where they’d hung their uniforms.
Most of that day was taken up by the visit to the factory. While they were there they had a chat with the Hawkings and their team of designers about the new versions of Harridans that they were bringing out, including a sea-going version, which they had rather unimaginatively dubbed the “Sea Harridan”.
The Hawkings also showed them the hydromatic airscrews they had come up with. The innovation of the new airscrew wasn’t so much in the shape of the propellers, but rather how they provided variable pitch, something that Gwen hadn’t even considered in her work and kicked herself for. Under testing they had provided much improved performance for both Harridans and Spitsteams fitted with the more powerful springs coming out of Rentley-Joyce and the Hawkings generously agreed to deliver a few dozen of them to the Misfits to be fitted to their aircraft.
In return, Gwen and Kitty showed them the designs they had come up with for the new Misfit fighters and shared some of the innovations they had come up with, especially Gwen’s mechanism for the folding wings of Excalibur, which the Harridans immediately began to incorporate into the design for the Sea Harridan.
There was no hint of whatever the Hawkings were working on in such secrecy in their private study, though, but Gwen knew better than to ask; the British were well-informed of the dangers of loose lips.
In the afternoon, after a traditional Midwinter lunch in the factory canteen with the rest of the workers, Gwen and Kitty took up a pair of newly-constructed Harridans with the new hydromatic airscrews, ostensibly to try them out, but they didn’t miss the opportunity to have some fun and put on a show over Goring, doing aerobatics and dogfighting.
The 22nd December, the day after the visit to the factory, was the solstice and much of it was spent welcoming the arrivals and preparing for the dinner, although Gwen and Kitty did snatch some time for themselves for a walk around the grounds and an afternoon nap.
Many of the Misfits had gone home for the holidays to be with their families, but Bruce, Monty, Derek and Scarlet all came, the Irishwoman bringing Sir Douglas Pewtall with her - by some coincidence it was the most rowdy of the Misfits who were available and their presence at the party turned something that was already usually quite spirited into more like a riot.
That was the
end of the excitement for a while, though, and, after the guests and Misfits had departed the next morning, Gwen’s mother and father also left; they had been invited to spend a week at Lord Gray’s estate on the Yorkshire Dales with a few friends. They asked if Gwen and Kitty would like to go as well, but the pilots politely refused, preferring to stay; except for the butler and a couple of kitchen staff who had gotten the short straw for the holidays that year, they would be alone and were looking forward to having the house and grounds to themselves.
With no orders or schedule to obey and the weather holding fine, they spent much of the following few days going for long walks across the hills or along the river, trying to forget the fact that there was a war on and people were probably fighting at that moment. They were successful most of the time and it helped that the only people they saw the whole time, except for the servants, were the two fishermen who were still camped on the opposite bank and who waved to them every time they passed.
Their baggage finally arrived from the Arturo on the morning of the fourth day and with it came the regimental banner from Muscovy. Gwen wanted to get the visit to the Drake’s over as quickly as possible so, after breakfast, she and Kitty took her mother’s autocar, a small two seater buggy, the ten miles to the Drake estate at Henley.
Drake’s mother and father had been informed of their son’s death through diplomatic channels weeks before and had already held his funeral, burying an empty box like so many other parents of pilots. They were taking Rudy’s loss stoically, having known that it was a distinct possibility from the moment he had joined the RAC, but they were obviously heartbroken. Seeing Gwen was a reminder of happier times that they didn’t need, so she made her excuses as quickly as she decently could and left them to their grief.
The very next day, the clouds darkened, freezing rain set in and it was no longer possible to go on their walks. Instead, they went to Gwen’s workshop and Gwen began teaching Kitty about flying and servicing a Zeppelin.
Every night, no matter the weather, they spent in Gwen’s rooms, reading, writing, laughing and making love, savouring every moment they had together, knowing that when the holidays were over they weren’t likely to have as many chances to be alone.
A Misfit Midwinter Page 8
