He gazed lazily into the dapple of leaves and sunlight above him. Hands behind her head, Daisy lay beside him in the wild garden.
‘Remember, Drew, when we were kids? We used to lie here, all six of us, in the long grass, just talking – sometimes not even talking.’ Just glad to be together, she supposed.
‘The Clan. And now there’s only you and me.’
‘And Tatty, don’t forget. She’ll be along later. She’s gone to Creesby to get her hair trimmed. She’ll come, though, now she knows you’re home.’
‘The whole Riding knows I’m home,’ Drew sighed contentedly. ‘It’s as if I’ve never been away – well, it seems like it, lying here. Wish Keth and Kitty and Bas could suddenly appear – oh, Daiz! I’m sorry!’
‘Don’t be. And you don’t wish it half as much as I do. But I’m feeling good today. Four letters came this morning – two of them from Washington. Keth’s got a job there, but not one word about what he’s doing. I miss him, Drew. Half of me wants him home; the other half wants him to stay safe in America so they can’t call him up. And that’s an awful thing to say, isn’t it, when you’ve been called up for six months, almost?’
‘Do you think he’ll manage to get back home? It’s a pretty dicey crossing from America these days, and difficult for civilians to get a permit to sail, I believe. Between you and me, Daiz, we’re losing more shipping in the Atlantic than the Government tells us about. And there’s no chance at all of him flying over.’
‘I know. There’s nothing I can do about it, I suppose. If he manages to get back – well fine. If he doesn’t, at least I won’t have to go through what Mam and Aunt Julia went through in their war – and, oh! I shouldn’t have said that, either – not when you’re already fighting, Drew. I’m sorry.’
‘’S all right, Daiz. And I’m not fighting – not just yet. When my leave is over, though, I think I’ll get a ship pretty quickly.’ He closed his eyes, breathing slowly, deeply; smiling contentment. ‘But right now, I’m enjoying being here and I’m not going to think of going back till next Saturday.’
‘Next Saturday is Mary’s wedding. You’ll miss it. She’ll be ever so disappointed.’
‘Yes, she said so. But we’d better not talk about weddings, had we?’
‘Best not. And next year, when I’m twenty-one, don’t even think of mentioning weddings. That’s when we’d have been getting married. Expect I’ll weep all day. On the other hand, though, I might not.’ She sat up, arms clasped round her knees, then turning to face him she whispered, ‘I might not be here, you see. I volunteered, three weeks ago, for the Wrens.’
‘You did – what?’
‘Signed up. I thought – what the heck! Drew’s in the Navy so that’ll do for me. I was fed up …’
‘Fed up? We call that chocker in the Navy.’
‘Okay – so I’m learning. I was chocker with that shop so I went in my dinner hour and did it. And I signed Dada’s name, too. I had to because I’m still a minor. He hit the roof, Drew. In the end, Mam gave us both a telling-off and it has sort of died down now because I haven’t heard another word from them.’
‘Not even about your medical?’
‘Nope. But I heard they were pretty choosy. Maybe I won’t hear any more.’
‘I think you will. There were two Wrens on my training course and they were smashing. And the Wrens who work in barracks are okay, too. You’ll look great in the uniform, Daiz. One of the blokes in our mess saw your photograph and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Where did you find a bit of crackling like that, Sutton?” he asked me, and I told him under a gooseberry bush – that you were my sister. I’ll tell him you’re joining the Wrens,’ he grinned. ‘It’ll make his day!’
‘Then you’d better tell him I’m engaged, too – and, Drew, can we walk? I’ve got something else to tell you.’
‘Which necessitates walking?’
‘Yes – oh, no! But it’s going to take a bit of explaining after so long, you see. And I hope you won’t think I’ve been sneaky and secretive about it, but nobody knows – well, only Mam and Dada and Aunt Julia. And Keth, of course.’
‘I’m curious. Where shall we go?’
‘Into Brattocks the back way, then down to the elms. I want the rooks to hear it, too.’
‘You believe all that nonsense about telling things to the rooks, do you?’
‘Mam does! Anyway, I want to tell them!’
‘Fine by me.’ He held out his hand and she took it, smiling up at him, glad he was her brother – her half-brother.
‘We-e-ll – it started when we lived in Hampshire. Do you remember Hampshire, Drew?’
‘Of course I do! I loved it when Mother and I came to stay with you. I thought it was great, having you and Keth to play with. Do you remember when they told us we were related, you and me? You threw the mother of all tantrums and ran out.’
‘Don’t remind me! But I was jealous, you see, when they told us Mam had once been married to your father. Funny, isn’t it, that Mam was once Lady Alice Sutton?’
‘Don’t see why, considering she married Sir Giles Sutton and they had me.’
‘’S’pose not. Does having a title bother you, Drew? Do the other sailors rag you about it – you being on the lower decks, I mean?’
‘The blokes in the Mess don’t know about it. I took good care not to tell them. I’m Telegraphist Sutton and that’s the way I want it.’
‘But hadn’t you considered a commission? You’d be a good officer.’
‘No better than a lot of others, Daiz, and anyway, I like it where I am. I’ve been with a decent crowd of blokes, training. I’m sorry we’ll all be split up, but that’s war for you – and here we are at the elms, so you’d better tell me what’s bothering you because something is.’
‘Not bothering me, exactly, but it’s something I want you to know and like I said, I wasn’t being deceitful, not telling you. I almost told you ages ago, when I told Keth, but he was so shocked by it, I decided not to …’
‘Daisy! Tell!’
‘All right.’ She settled herself on the grass, her back to the elm tree bole, arms behind her as if she were embracing it, connecting herself and her words to it and to the rooks that nested in it. It was the way she always did it. ‘Remember when Keth’s father and Mr Hillier were drowned?’ She took a deep, calming breath. ‘And that Mr Hillier left Windrush Hall to the miners as a convalescent home – because he’d been a boy down the pit before he got so rich?’
Drew nodded, careful not to interrupt because she was finding it difficult, he knew.
‘Well, he left everyone who worked for him a hundred pounds, the rest of his money to be invested for the upkeep of the home.’
‘I knew that, Daiz …’
‘Yes, but what you don’t know is that the money he left me wasn’t a hundred pounds. Oh, I thought it was. I felt rich; thought I could spend it on bikes and toys, but Mam thought otherwise. But what I didn’t know, Drew, and they didn’t tell me for ages afterwards –’ She turned to face him, one hand on the tree-trunk, still. ‘They waited till I’d got a bit more sense, knew how not to blab about it at school. That hundred pounds I thought I’d been left was more. Much more.’
‘How much more?’ he asked warily.
‘Mr