Again, the bully spoke for her. ‘My daughter is no longer part of your life, young lady. She is back where she belongs. Come along, Charlotte, the car’s waiting.’
He grabbed her mother’s arm and marched her away. ‘That was quite horrible. Mum wasn’t allowed to even speak…’
‘Sweetheart, don’t feel sorry for her. It was her choice to leave Fred and go back to him. Forget about her.’
‘I’m going to try and get her on her own at the wake. I can’t bear to think of her being unhappy.’ She looked around at the crowd of RAF personnel milling about the graveyard. ‘Who are all these men?’
‘His entire squadron is here to pay their last respects. I’m so sorry, darling, you know I was intending to stay the night but I’ve got a lift in the truck. I’ve told them they can come back to Glebe Farm. I think his squadron leader wants to have a word with you and Fred.’
‘That’s a shame, but duty comes first.’
George didn’t travel back in the truck with Jack and Greg – he must have been in the car with the others.
‘Don’t you worry about anything, Ellie love, my friends and I have got everything in hand. You spend as much time as you can with your young man before he leaves.’
‘Thank you, Mabel, I’ll do that.’
The wake was being held outside and if it wasn’t for the fact that those not in uniform were in black, it could have been a garden party. Nobody stayed very long and her mother, George and Sir Reginald failed to attend at all. It was as if she’d lost two brothers today.
Jack had hugged her and she’d shed a few more tears as he too was going back in the RAF transport. There was something she needed to say to Greg before he left and she took him to the rose garden where they could be alone.
‘The Germans will be invading Britain soon. You could be killed next. I don’t want to wait – I want to get married as soon as we can. We just don’t know how much time we’ve got left.’
His arms tightened. ‘If you’re sure, sweetheart, then I’m all for it. If you talk to the vicar he can call the banns immediately, then we can get married as soon as we both get leave at the same time.’
He kissed her and wiped away her tears with his thumbs. ‘Having a wedding to plan will give Mabel and Fred something to think about. It needs to be a low-key affair, just immediate family and friends. We won’t be able to live together until the war’s over, but knowing I have a wife to come back to will keep me safe.’
Someone called his name and it was time for him to leave. She stood in the centre of the drive waving until the lorry was out of sight then returned to the house to give Mabel and her father the good news.
To be continued…
We hope you enjoyed this book.
Fenella J. Miller’s next book is coming in spring 2019
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Acknowledgements
My thanks and love to my brother Tony and sister-in-law Susan. Without their support I couldn’t do what I do.
I am immensely grateful for the work of the brilliant authors of the books listed below. I had all the information I needed from them in order to write this book. The more I learned about the ATA girls, who ferried aircraft for the RAF, the more fascinated I became.
I couldn’t find any novels about a ferry pilot that included aircraft and flying. I’m hoping my books will fill this gap in the market. This is a story that needs to be more widely known and by fictionalising it I believe the brave young woman in the ATA will get the recognition they deserve. No one I spoke to had heard of them and the remarkable job they did in World War II.
The second book in this series will be published in 2019 and the final book later in the same year. I hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I did writing it.
Fenella J. Miller
Spitfire Women Giles Whitehall
Spitfire Jonathan Glancey
Debs at War Ann de Courcy
Spreading My Wings Diana Barnard Walker
Fly & Deliver Hugh Bergel
Contact! Britain! Nancy Miller Livingston Stratford
Bomber Girls MJ Foreman
The Female Few Jackie Hyams
Spitfire Girl Jackie Moggridge
Lettice Curtis Her Autobiography
Spitfire Pilot Flight Lieutenant David Cook DFC
Wartime Britain Juliet Gardiner
RAF Airfields Jonathan Falconer
Dictionary of RAF Slang Eric Partridge
Opie's The Wartime Scrapbook
Oxford Dictionary of Slang
Britain at War Unseen Archives Maureen Hill
Bomber Boys Patrick Bishop
The Home Front Marion Yass
Looking into Hell Neil Rolfe
Christmas on the Home Front Mike Brown
About Fenella J. Miller
FENELLA J. MILLER was born in the Isle of Man. Her father was a Yorkshire man and her mother the daughter of a Rajah. She has worked as a nanny, cleaner, field worker, hotelier, chef, secondary and primary teacher and is now a full time writer.
She has over thirty-eight Regency romantic adventures published, plus four Jane Austen variations, three Victorian sagas and seven WW2 family sagas. She lives in a pretty, riverside village in Essex with her husband and British Shorthair cat. She has two adult children and three grandchildren.
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