A Song At Twilight (37 page)

Matron’s disapproving frown returned. ‘It
is
Mrs Knight, as it happens,’ she said coldly, ‘but that’s none of your business. Your job is to recover from whatever injuries you sustained when you crashed your plane,’ the tone of her voice left him in no doubt as to her opinion of his flying capabilities, ‘and return to the airfield. Obviously we’ll do our best to see that that’s as soon as possible. Now,’ as they heard a cry from the room nearby, ‘I must get back to my real patients. Excuse me, Mr Dabrowski.’

She turned and swept out of the room with a rustle of starched uniform, and Stefan lay back on the bed. In truth, he felt much more shaken than he had allowed her to see. The crash had hurt his pride more than his body; although his head throbbed and he felt bruised and sore all over, he knew there were no serious injuries and his most urgent desire was to get back to the airfield and take up another plane. He was furious with himself for the accident and knew that it would mean a carpeting from the Station Commander, but he knew also that he was too good a pilot to be grounded, and with the Invasion imminent they would need every man they could get.

There was no use in letting his impatience get the better of him, however. No Service doctor would leave the station until all the aircraft were back – not for a pilot who had nothing much wrong with him – and however desperate the need, there would be no flying for him until he had had that carpeting and another plane was made available. Meanwhile, here he was, ludicrously put to bed in a maternity home, and with Alison herself giving birth to her baby only a few yards away. What Andrew would have given to be in my place, he thought wryly.

The door opened and a young nurse came in. She looked no more than eighteen or nineteen, with a small, freckled face and ginger curls escaping from her cap. She was already blushing as she came through the door, and when Stefan smiled at her the blush turned a fiery red.

‘Have you come to examine me?’ he enquired.

‘Matron told me to make sure you had no serious injuries and to attend to those you had.’ Timidly, she came closer to the bed, stopped just beyond arm’s reach, and looked at his face. ‘Can you tell me where it hurts?’

‘All over,’ he said seriously. ‘I think both my legs may be broken. Do you wish to see?’ He began to push down the bedclothes.

‘I’ll look at your head first. Matron said there may be some concussion. She didn’t say anything about broken legs.’ Warily, she came close enough to touch him and he obediently bent his head so that she could part his hair with her fingers. ‘You’ve got some lumps but there doesn’t seem to be any bleeding. Is it tender?’

‘Only a little, but then you have such a gentle touch.’ He turned his face up towards hers. They were very close now and he saw the panic in her eyes. ‘Don’t be afraid, little nurse, I’m not going to hurt you. Have you not dealt with men before?’

‘I’m training to be a midwife,’ she said primly, stepping back.

‘Still, some of the babies you deliver must be boys.’

‘Of course they are.’

‘Well, they will be men one day. We were all babies once, you know.’ He saw the bemused look on her face. ‘It’s all right, little nurse. Perhaps I am concussed, after all. Are you going to look at my other injuries?’

‘You haven’t really broken your legs, have you?’ she asked doubtfully, and he laughed and shook his head.

‘No, I’m not badly injured at all. Just bruised and scratched. I was very lucky. A few cuts here and there – perhaps you should wash and dress those – but nothing more. I promise to behave.’ His eyes danced and she began to relax and smile tentatively back at him. ‘And then I may have a little favour to ask of you.’

‘A favour?’ She was cautious again. ‘What is it?’

‘That I will tell you when you have finished. By then, I hope we will be friends. Don’t look so concerned, little nurse. Now, shall I be quiet while you dress these terrible wounds of mine?’

‘I think you’d better.’ She clearly didn’t know quite what to make of him and although he enjoyed teasing her he was reminded sharply of his sister Krystyna, who had been just as shy and timorous before her marriage. He sighed, wondering how she was now and whether her Jewish husband were still alive. Whether even Krystyna herself were still alive …

‘You’re looking sad,’ the nurse said quietly as she bathed the cuts on his arms and shoulders. Most of the damage seemed to have come from the cockpit as it shattered around him, and from jagged edges catching his skin as he was dragged out of the wrecked plane. As Matron had said, though, it was largely superficial and he would soon be taken back to the airfield.

‘I was thinking of my family in Poland,’ he said. ‘You remind me of my sister.’

‘Oh.’ She stopped her work and looked at him. ‘I’m sorry. Do – do you ever hear from them?’

‘Not since the war began and I left my country. I often wonder …’ He left the words unsaid. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you sad as well.’

‘Everyone has something to be sad about these days,’ she murmured.

‘Even you?’

‘I’ve lost an uncle and a sister,’ she said. ‘My uncle was a soldier. He was killed at Dunkirk. My sister was a Wren and a bomb hit the barracks where she was stationed. There were nearly twenty of them killed that night.’

‘A sister!’ he said. ‘That is dreadful for you. She was older than you?’

‘Three years.’ She looked more closely at a gash on his shoulder. ‘This is going to need stitches. I’ll tell Matron.’

‘One moment.’ He lifted his hand to stop her and she paused. ‘May I ask my favour now?’

The girl hesitated. She had relaxed during their conversation, but now her wariness returned. ‘What is it?’

‘The woman in labour now – Mrs Knight. She’s a friend. Her husband is my Squadron Leader. He hasn’t been able to see her since she came in – all leave’s been stopped and we’re on duty day and night.’ He leaned up on one elbow, anxious to persuade her. ‘If I could just see her for a few minutes, so that I can tell him when I go back to the airfield.’

‘But she hasn’t been delivered yet! Matron would never allow it.’

‘For just a moment,’ he pleaded. ‘And perhaps by the time I leave, her baby will have been born. What objection could there be then?’

‘Only husbands—’

‘But her husband can’t be here! It’s forbidden for him to leave the airfield. And I
am
here. She would want to see me, I know it. And Andrew – Squadron Leader Knight – he would want it also, I am sure. When he finds out I’ve been here,’ he put his head on one side and gazed at her, ‘he will be disappointed if I can tell him nothing. So disappointed.’

The nurse glanced nervously at the door behind her. They could hear Alison’s groans and the voices of the midwives urging her on. She chewed her lip and then made up her mind.

‘I’ll try. That’s all I can promise. If Matron or one of the others were to find out, I’d get into terrible trouble, so it’ll have to be when she’s on her own, and that won’t be until the baby’s born now. But if there’s a chance – well, I will try.’

‘Thank you.’ He lay back on his pillows and she slipped out of the room.

Silently, Stefan joined his voice to those of the midwives in encouraging Alison and her baby in their battle. With the nurse gone, he began to be more aware of his cuts and bruises, the aches of his body and the throbbing in his head. He felt sick and shaken, but he knew it would pass. His more pressing desire was to see Alison.

He knew that he hadn’t been strictly honest with the nurse. He did want to see Alison for Andrew’s sake, so that he could report on her and, with luck, the baby. But most of all, he wanted to see her for his own sake. He wanted to be with her. And, when he’d heard her call his name, he had known that she wanted him too.

The baby was born at last, just after five o’clock in the morning.

The whole maternity home seemed to relax once it was all over. It was a small home, with just two wards and a few private rooms, and there were fewer than a dozen new mothers in at the time. Stefan, by now stitched and waiting for transport back to the airfield, was in a fever in case he was whisked away without having a chance to see Alison; but once the birth was over and she and the baby had both been bathed, the corridor fell silent. After a few minutes, the little nurse slipped into the room.

‘I think it would be safe now. They’ve given her a cup of tea and gone to have their breakfast. You’ll be very quick, though, won’t you?’

‘I will. Don’t worry.’ He swung his legs off the bed and padded towards the door, not stopping to put on his shoes. Apart from that, he was fully dressed. ‘Keep watch for me, will you? If anyone comes, knock on the door and I’ll jump out of the window!’

‘Don’t be silly.’ But she stationed herself nervously by the door and he slid into the room.

Alison was propped on her pillows. The bedclothes lay oddly flat over her body and he realised he had been subconsciously expecting her to be the same size as when he had last seen her. Her eyes widened as she looked up at him and then her face crumpled with tears.

‘Alison!’ In two strides, he was beside the bed, cradling her against him. In the same moment, he realised that she was holding the baby against her, wrapped in a creamy-white shawl. ‘Sweetheart, don’t cry. You’ve got your baby – you should be happy.’

‘I am,’ she sniffed, wiping the tears away. ‘It was just seeing you – I felt so lonely. Andrew can’t come to visit me and I don’t know when we’ll be together again – and then you were here and it seemed like a miracle.’ The tears flowed again but she was smiling as well. ‘Oh, Stefan, it’s so lovely to see you!’

‘Ssh,’ he said, bending to kiss her cheek. ‘Nobody must know I’m here. Matron would probably have me shot. I can only stay a few minutes. Show me your baby. Is it a boy or a girl?’

‘It’s a girl.’ Proudly, she drew aside the folds of the shawl and he looked down at a face that was neither red nor wrinkled, but creamy and smooth, with pale blue eyelids tightly closed so that long dark lashes lay like fans on the downy cheeks. The head was covered with black hair, still damp and wavy.

‘She’s exactly like Andrew,’ he said in astonishment. ‘I never believed it before, when people told me that newborn babies could resemble one of their parents.’

Alison nodded. ‘She is, isn’t she? There’s not a scrap of me in her.’

‘I expect she will have your beautiful nature,’ he told her seriously, and then kissed her again. ‘I am so pleased to be here. It is a privilege.’

‘But why are you here?’ she asked. ‘Andrew can’t come, so how did you manage it? And you’ve been here for hours. I didn’t think Matron allowed—’

‘Matron had no choice.’ He tapped one of his bandages and her eyes widened again as, for the first time, she really took in his appearance. ‘I crashed my plane and they brought me here. There was some confusion at the airfield gate – so much was going on, so many planes taking off – and this was the nearest place with medical facilities. It was just luck – for me, good luck.’

‘You crashed your plane? But are you really all right? Was anyone else hurt?’

‘It was just me. I clipped the Rock. The aircraft is broken, but I am just a little bent.’ He smiled at her. ‘I shall be in trouble, no doubt, but they’ll find me another plane. I will be back in the air by tonight. But for now – it is good that I can be here with you. I can tell Andrew that he has a beautiful daughter, as well as a beautiful wife.’

‘Oh, Stefan,’ she said, and leaned her head against him.

They stayed quiet for a few moments and then he said, ‘I will have to go soon. There is a little nurse keeping watch for me – I don’t want to get her into trouble.’

‘No, you mustn’t do that.’ As he straightened up, she reached up her free hand and slipped it round to the back of his neck, drawing him down again. ‘Stefan, I’m so glad you were here. If it couldn’t be Andrew – well, there’s nobody I’d rather have.’

A little more pressure on the back of his neck, and his lips met hers. They kissed; a brief touch of the lips. And then there was a soft knock on the door and she let him go. Hurriedly, he straightened and moved away, then he turned back again.

‘The baby’s name – what is it to be?’

‘Caroline,’ she said, and then, after a tiny pause, ‘She’s going to have three names. Caroline Morag Stephanie.’

‘You’ve seen Alison?’ Andrew echoed. ‘You’ve seen Alison
and my daughter
?’

Stefan had returned to the airfield to find most of the squadron safely back. Two had been lost – Brian Summers, and a new pilot who had been with them only a week or two. Stefan himself had been checked by the station doctor and seen the Group Commander about the crash. When he came back to the mess, the first thing he had done was seek out Andrew and tell him what had happened.

‘It was just luck,’ he began, but Andrew wasn’t listening. He’d telephoned the maternity home the minute he had landed and discovered that he was a father again, and Matron had told him the weight of the baby and the names Alison had chosen. For a moment, as he listened, he was bemused, and when he heard that Stefan had actually been in the little hospital while Alison was giving birth he had felt as if his world were dropping away from him.

‘They won’t let me off the station,’ he said bitterly. ‘I can’t even go two miles to see my own wife, and you waltz in as if you were the King himself. And she’s even named the baby after you! It’s crazy. I don’t understand it.’

‘It was just an accident,’ Stefan said, trying to explain. ‘I didn’t ask to be taken there. I didn’t even know that was where I was, until I came to my senses in the bedroom. Then I heard her voice …’

‘What do you mean, you heard her voice? She was in labour.’

‘Yes,’ Stefan said. ‘She was in labour. She was crying out. Calling for you,’ he added in the hope that this might mollify his Squadron Leader.

‘Calling for me? Oh, my God – my poor Alison. And me not there.’ Andrew began to pace up and down the mess. ‘
I
ought to have been there, not you. It’s all wrong. Oh, this bloody war!’

Stefan waited. He didn’t know what to say. He had thought that since Andrew couldn’t see Alison or their baby himself, he would be glad that a friendly face had been there with her, glad to hear at first-hand what the baby was like. Instead, he seemed angry – angry with Stefan.