His Diamond Bride

curiously on Mark and Dee realised she was conveying a warning about the two girls by the window who ‘looked respectable’ but clearly weren’t.

It was plain what she meant. The girls were regarding Mark, wide-eyed, and in all fairness Dee couldn’t blame them. In a short time he’d grown older, heavier, more adult, and a hundred times more attractive. Until now, the boy had lingered in his face, but the experience of confronting death time and again had changed him.

One of the girls seemed about to hail him, then her eyes flickered to Dee and she shrugged and turned away.

Forget it, Dee wanted to say. He’s mine.

A young man at a corner table rose and headed for the door, passing close by. Dee frowned.

‘Pete?’ she queried cautiously.

He stared, then grinned when he’d recovered. ‘Fancy seeing you here!’ he exclaimed.

‘You two know each other?’ Mark asked.

‘We were at school together,’ Dee explained, ‘although Pete was two forms above me. He saved me from bullies once.’

‘Then let me shake your hand,’ Mark said, doing so and giving Pete a good-natured grin.

‘What are you doing here?’ Dee asked him. ‘Are you an airman?’

‘No, I’m a mechanic,’ Pete said. ‘I wanted to fly, but I was useless at it. Not like him.’ He indicated Mark. ‘Regular mad devil, that’s what they say.’

Mark grinned again, not at all troubled by this assessment.

‘I’ll…er…leave you alone, then,’ Pete said, suddenly becoming self-conscious.

‘Yes, do, there’s a good chap,’ Mark agreed, shepherding Dee to a table.

He sat down facing her, his hands holding hers across the table, smiling as he did in her dreams.

‘I can’t stay long, so let’s make the most of it,’ he said. ‘I’ve missed you.’

‘Has it been very bad?’

He shrugged. ‘They haven’t caught me yet and they’re not going to.’

‘But there’s more to come, isn’t there?’

‘I’m afraid so. I worry about you, too. Are you sleeping in that Anderson shelter?’

She made a face. ‘We tried it but it’s so uncomfortable. Mum simply refuses to leave the house now, and we can hardly leave her there alone. To hell with Hitler!’

He touched her cheek. ‘That’s the spirit.’

Silence fell for a few moments and she had the strange impression that he was uneasy, which was rare with him. Then, as if coming to a sudden resolution, he said, ‘I’ve got something for you.’

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box which he opened to reveal a ring.

‘It’s about time I gave you an engagement ring. I hope it fits.’

It fitted perfectly. It was tiny and cheap, with a small piece of glass where a diamond should have been. She wouldn’t have changed it for the world.

‘Hey, don’t cry,’ he chided, brushing her cheek. ‘What happened to my sensible Dee?’

‘She doesn’t really exist,’ she choked. ‘She’s just a pretence.’

‘I hope not. I’ll rely on her to keep me straight when this is over.’

‘When it’s over,’ she said longingly. ‘One day-but when?’ To her surprise, he sighed and for a moment a bleak look came over his face. It was gone in an instant, but she knew she wasn’t mistaken.

‘What is it?’ she asked. ‘I thought you were loving it.’

‘Well, some of it.’

‘Being one of “the few”, having your picture in the paper. After that photo appeared in the national press, the local paper used it as well. Now there’s a copy hanging up in the church hall with “Our Hero” written underneath.’

‘Please, Dee, you’re making me blush.’

‘Nonsense, I know how conceited you really are.’

‘Oh, you do!’

‘Yes, I do,’ she said, laughing as she spoke. ‘And you bask in the spotlight. Oh, Mark, what is it?’ The bleak look had appeared again. ‘Am I being clumsy? I’m sorry.’

‘No, it’s just that…well…it’s not like the romantic picture they give you. When you take off, you never know what’s going to happen.’

‘Of course not, how stupid of me. It must be scary. Are you-?’

‘Am I scared? Yes, but not in the way you think. If you get shot down it’ll all be over soon. I can cope with that. It’s when I shoot one of them down that it gets hard.’

His fingers tightened on her hand and she clasped him back, waiting silently.

‘It’s all right when they’re at a distance,’ he went on. ‘But sometimes it happens close up and you can see them, even hear them scream over the engines as they go down to their deaths.’

‘But otherwise it would be you,’ she urged.

‘I know. You tell yourself it’s them or you but that doesn’t always help. If you see their faces they’ve become real, and you know you’ve killed a man.’

‘A man who was trying to kill you,’ she said firmly.

‘Yes. It’s just a bit of a shock at first. Ah, well, never mind.’

The last words were like a barrier set up suddenly, as though he’d seen where the conversation was leading and didn’t want to go there.

‘Mark, please talk to me if you want to-’

‘I talk too much,’ he said heartily. ‘I can remember when you used to say so.’

‘That was in another world. If you-’

‘Hey, who’s that?’

There was a movement from outside the window and another airman looked in, jerking his head when he saw Mark. ‘We have to get back now,’ he said tensely. ‘Take off in an hour.’

‘Goodbye,’ Mark said, rising and leaning forward to kiss her.

She had a thousand things to say. I love you. Take care. Call me when you get back. But she said none of them, just followed him to the door and stood watching as he walked away. The girls of easy virtue were still there and one of them tried to stop and talk to him, but he shook her off and hurried on.

Mrs Gorton came to stand beside her at the door. ‘Is he your fiance?’ she asked.

‘That’s him,’ Dee replied, her eyes on Mark’s retreating figure.

She wasn’t really listening to Mrs Gorton, and so missed the slight curious note in her voice. Nor did she hear the way she said, ‘Hmm!’ or see the pitying look the older woman gave her.

In fact she saw and heard nothing in the outside world. Now her whole universe was taken up by the feel of the ring on her finger, and joy that he’d remembered it in the middle of so much else.

There was another happiness, too. She treasured the moment when he’d come so close to confiding in her about the horrors of his job. That was what she could give him, what would draw them closer. All she needed was time. But time might yet be denied them. As night descended and she pictured him high up, making life and death decisions, she knew a return of terror and fiercely clasped the ring on her left hand.

He had said they wouldn’t catch him and it seemed as if he was right. He survived that night’s sortie and many others to come. Now the bombers focused all their attention on London in what became known as the Blitz. Dee and her parents took refuge in the Anderson shelter in the garden while the noise thundered around them and far off they could hear the screams of the injured and the crash of collapsing buildings. By a miracle, the Parsons’ house was left standing, but when they emerged in the morning there was always devastation to be witnessed.

During that time she saw Mark once more, meeting him at the cafe. When he left she strolled with him as close to the airfield as possible and blew him a kiss as he vanished. The way back lay past the cafe. To her surprise, Mrs Gorton was waiting for her at the door.

‘You’ve been good to me, so I thought I’d warn you,’ she said. ‘Are you really planning to marry that one?’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘Well, don’t, that’s all I’ve got to say. I told you last time how some of them carry on, but I didn’t tell you he’s one of the worst.’

‘Nonsense!’