Summer Loving (4 page)

‘I know US troops was based on the Roseland side of the River Fal, up around Tolverne and Turnaware. You can still see bits of that concrete reinforcing they put down on the beaches to hold the tanks.’

Jess nodded. ‘There were camps at Polvellan, Falmouth, and up the Helford River as well.’ A yawn caught her by surprise. ‘Sorry.’

‘Leave it now, bird. You’ve made a good start. And you’ve had a busy weekend.’

‘So have you.’

He nodded. ‘Great it was. But I’m glad to be home.’ He caught hold of her hand. ‘Staying am I?’

Touched that he should ask, she leaned over and kissed him. ‘If you want.’

His arm snaked around her, drawing her close. ‘I want,’ he whispered, then pushed to his feet and pulled her up. ‘But I better warn you –’

‘No gymnastics?’ she smiled over her shoulder. ‘No problem.’

‘Weight off my mind, that is,’ he stifled a yawn.

As Jess brushed her teeth she heard a distant rumble of thunder. She left the landing window and bedroom door open in hopes of a through draught to cool the heavy air.

When Tom slid in beside her she had thrown off the duvet and lay naked beneath a sheet. His skin was warm and he smelled of soap and toothpaste. ‘Come here, my lover.’ He drew her close. ‘Dear life, I’ve missed you.’

Their loving was tender; release a long sweet sigh. He was still holding her when they slipped into sleep.

The storm broke just before dawn. Lightning lit the room with dazzling flashes followed a few seconds later by the boom and roll of thunder.

Jess reached for the small clock on her bedside table.

‘Wha’s time?’ Tom mumbled.

‘Quarter to five.’

Jess counted the interval between light and sound. It was shorter. ‘It’s moving very fast.’ She sat up. ‘Tea or coffee?’

Tom swung his feet to the floor and scrubbed his scalp with both hands, ‘I’ll do it.’

‘We may as well both go down.’ She tied the belt of her cotton robe. ‘There’ll be no sleeping through this.’ Normally thunderstorms didn’t bother her. They didn’t happen often. But her skin was prickling and, as she rubbed her arms, unease feathered down her spine. The air felt spiky and charged.

Tom had pulled on his boxers and was stepping into his jeans. ‘I been up at sparrowfart every day this past week,’ he grumbled. ‘Just one more hour, that’s all I –’

A blinding flash and simultaneous ear-splitting crack of thunder made the cottage vibrate. Jess gasped at the sound of smashing tiles and shattering glass.

‘That’s a strike,’ Tom said.

The air was acrid then Jess smelled burning. She ran on to the landing, and looked out of the window that faced her back garden as lightning flashed again.

‘Tom,’ her throat was dry, her voice raspy. ‘I think it hit the chapel.’ She watched, horrified, as smoke and flames billowed out of the roof.

‘Call the fire brigade,’ Tom yelled, pulling on his shirt and stuffing bare feet into his deck shoes.

As soon as she had replaced the receiver, Jess flew upstairs, threw her robe onto the rumpled bed, and pulled on jeans and a sweatshirt. Downstairs she stepped into moccasins and yanked open the front door.

Elsie was in her doorway, her arm round a crying Tegan, both in their nightclothes. ‘What was the crash?’

‘Lightning hit the chapel. I’ve called the fire brigade.’

‘Oh my dear Lord.’

Front doors were opening, people emerged, some still in nightwear, others partly dressed, all hurrying up the road.

Dazzled by a vivid blue-white flare, Jess winced at thunder so loud she felt real fear. She had never experienced anything like this. Which of the keyholders lived nearest? Reaching the front of the chapel, she stumbled to a halt, shock taking her breath as the next flash lit up the damage.

The lightning strike had ripped a long jagged hole in the slates, blasted through the frosted glass screen, and blown one of the double doors off its hinges.

Stunned, Jess saw crackling flames and thick grey smoke curling out of the roof. The intense heat of the lightning must have set the rafters alight.

Panting men emerged carrying the altar table and lectern.
Where was Tom?
Relief followed panic as she saw Tom and Fred Honey manhandle the piano out over the step. Fred’s son Jase emerged, coughing, carrying a large bundle she recognised as the altar cloth and wooden cross.

‘Got the Sunday school room open yet?’ Fred yelled. ‘Be raining in a minute.’

Men surged forward, some to salvage whatever they could before the fire reached it, others to move what had already been retrieved. More people were arriving. Women carrying cartons of milk hurried through the chapel yard to the schoolroom and attached kitchen. The caretaker had brought a key.

After another vibrating boom of thunder, Jess heard the siren of the fire-engine. A raindrop hit her head. Another slid down her face. About to head for the schoolroom and offer help, something made her look round.

Morwenna was standing against the hedge on the far side of the road, her long nightdress visible beneath her raincoat, hands pressed to her mouth as tears streamed down her face.

‘Take her home,’ Tom said behind Jess, making her jump. ‘She don’t need to see this. Ben prob’ly don’t know yet. If I hadn’t stayed with you last night, I wouldn’t neither.’

‘I’m glad you were here, Tom.’

‘So’m I, bird. Go on now, I’ll catch you later.’

As Jess crossed the road to Morwenna, the fire engine hurtled round the corner, blue lights flashing, siren blaring, and braked to a halt a few yards beyond the wrecked chapel entrance. The siren stopped but the blue lights still strobed their warning as figures in bulky, grey protective suits with yellow stripes and yellow helmets jumped out. A generator roared into life. The skies opened and rain fell in torrents.

‘Come on, Mor.’ Jess put an arm around the shaking shoulders. ‘We can’t help. So there’s no point us getting drenched.’

Morwenna’s body jerked on a sob. ‘Jess, my wedding.’

Jess tightened her grip. ‘They’ll soon have the fire out. The driver must have broken every speed limit to get here so fast. The rain will help too. And there’s still six weeks till your wedding. The chapel could be repaired by then.’

Hunched against the driving rain they scurried up the hill and were soon in Mor’s kitchen drinking hot tea as the storm moved away. Thunder still rumbled and growled but its energy was spent.

While Morwenna was upstairs getting ready for work, Jess spread toast with butter and home-made marmalade then put Mor’s soaked nightdress and towels in the machine. Mor had just come down when her mobile rang.

‘Hello, my lover. Yes, I know. I seen it,’ she said into the phone. ‘Hang on a minute.’ She turned to Jess. ‘’Tis Ben. He was on his way up the farm, seen the fire engine, and stopped his motorbike on the hill to ring me, dear of ’n.’

‘Say hi to him from me. I’m off home. Make sure you eat that toast. You’ve got plenty of time before the bus comes.’ Jess closed the door behind her.

The clouds had parted to reveal a speedwell-blue sky. Sunshine made the wet road glisten, and the air was fresh and sweet, until she reached the crossroads and breathed in the acrid tang of wet ash and charred wood.

––––––––

B
ack in her cottage, Jess stripped off her wet clothes, shoved them into the washer, then went upstairs for a shower. Wearing faded jeans and a polo shirt, she remade the bed and tidied up, smiling as she found Tom’s socks.

It had been a lovely evening. Though their relationship this time around was still new, they had known each other since childhood and had loved each other as teenagers. Perhaps that, and the traumas they had both experienced, gave them a deeper appreciation of happiness, and each other.

After an omelette and a cup of coffee, she opened her laptop and returned to her research.

Known as the Blue and Grey because of their uniforms, the US 29
^th
Infantry Division had left New Jersey aboard the
Queen Elizabeth
and
Queen Mary
. The 19,000 soldiers were bound for Scotland to replace companies being sent to North Africa for the Desert Campaign.

To avoid attack by German U-boats, the two liners sailed their zigzag course at full speed. But with every change of direction the ships heeled over, tipping dishes off tables and men out of bunks.

Jess tried to imagine what it must have been like for the soldiers as they were carried ever further from home. Would tension have eased or increased as each day passed without a U-boat attack?

With only twenty-four hours of the voyage remaining, one of the Royal Navy escorts sent out to meet them misjudged her course and cut across the liner’s bow.

Jess’s hand went to her mouth as she read. The
Queen Mary
tore straight through the cruiser, cutting her in half. Crowded on the decks, men could only watch, helpless and horrified, as the two sections were swallowed by the sea, taking over 300 crewmen down with them.

With the safety of the troops taking precedence over everything else, the liner raced on, reaching the Firth of Clyde the following day.

Jess sat back. The men aboard that cruiser had not been lost in battle – which might at least have given their deaths some meaning – but through a tragic error of judgement.

The US soldiers were sent by rail to Salisbury Plain for several months of basic training. After that, they came west to Devon and Cornwall.

Linda’s mother, Diane, had been brought up on Trebleath Farm just outside Mawnan. So for her to have seen Billy-Joe Spencer often enough for them to start a relationship, he was probably based at a camp along the Helford.

Needing a break from her research and note-writing, Jess picked up her shopping bag and purse and walked down to the shop.

‘That was some start to the week,’ Gill said from behind the post office counter and clicked her tongue. ‘Seen the chapel have you?’

Jess nodded. ‘Thank heaven the firemen got here so quickly.’ She nodded to Sandra who was scanning items from a wire basket while two women waited.

‘My husband come home with holes burned in his shirt and trousers,’ one said.

The other nodded. ‘Sparks was flying like fireworks. They done well to save what they did.’

Jess picked up a litre of milk, a carton of eggs, and a bag of self-raising flour and went to the counter. As Sandra passed them over the scanner, Jess dug out her purse.

‘Here,’ the second woman demanded, nudging Jess. ‘Is it right Karen Trewearn have had a black baby?’

‘Has she?’ Jess said, handing Sandra a ten-pound note.

‘Come on,’ the woman scoffed. ‘Way I hear it you know everyone’s business.’

Jess smiled politely. ‘Then you heard wrong.’ She turned to Sandra, accepting her change and receipt. ‘Thanks. Must run, I’ve got cakes in the oven.’ As Sandra winked, Jess grabbed her shopping and left. Did people really think that? No, it was just one person’s opinion. Yet even if half the village thought that of her, there was nothing she could do about it.

She switched on the kettle, put her shopping away, and took cheese and a jar of green tomato chutney from the fridge. A sandwich would see her through until evening. As she cut two slices from the crusty loaf there was a knock on the door and Viv looked in.

‘I’ll go again if you’re busy.’

‘I’m just making a sandwich. Want to join me?’

Viv shook her head. ‘Couldn’t stomach it.’ She closed the door.

‘My sandwiches aren’t that bad.’

‘’Course they aren’t. That wasn’t – I’ll have a cup of tea if you’re making one.’

Jess glanced round. ‘Come and sit down and tell me what’s wrong.’

‘How do you know –?’

Jess simply raised her brows then continued buttering the bread. She had discovered that people often found it easier to talk if she appeared busy with some everyday task. She glanced up. ‘Are you worried about Charlene and Darren?’

‘No, well, yes. But this – I haven’t come about them.’ She pulled out one of the kitchen chairs and sagged onto it, resting her elbows on the table and propping her chin on both hands.

Jess rested the point of the knife on the chopping board. ‘What’s wrong, Viv?’

‘I think Jimmy have got another woman.’

Relieved, Jess laughed. ‘Don’t be so daft.’

‘I aren’t joking. And ’tisn’t funny.’ Tears gathered in Viv’s eyes then spilled down her cheeks.

Jess was horrified. ‘Viv, I’m sorry. Of course it isn’t. I didn’t mean – It’s just – I can’t believe it.’

‘You think I want to?’

Sitting opposite, Jess pushed the board aside and reached for Viv’s hand. ‘Why on earth would you think such a thing? Have you seen him with someone?’

Viv shook her head and pulled free to reach into her trouser pocket for what looked like a crumpled wad of toilet paper. Jess fetched the box of tissues, put them in front of Viv, and sat down again.

‘No. But he haven’t been near me since April. He won’t even cuddle, like he’s afraid I’ll want more. ’Course I do. We always been close that way. But this past three months he been finding excuses to stay up, or go to bed early so he’s asleep by time I get there.’

‘Is he worried about anything?’

‘I asked him. He said he wasn’t and to stop fussing. I even asked Wayne if everything was all right at the garage. I thought maybe someone hadn’t paid or wasn’t happy with a job. But Wayne said business is good. He did say his dad have been a bit quiet. I even asked ’n if Jimmy have been going off anywhere during the day.’

‘Oh, Viv.’

‘Wayne looked at me like I was half-baked and said of course he haven’t. Jimmy don’t never leave the garage during working hours. Wayne do the test drives and pick-ups. But something’s wrong and –’ her face crumpled. ‘I don’t know what to do.’ She put her head on her arms and sobbed.

‘I won’t keep you. I ’spect you’re busy,’ Morwenna said when Jess answered her knock that evening. ‘Here,’ she thrust a plastic tub forward. ‘It’s just a few scones.’

‘Mor, that’s so kind. I love your scones. But you didn’t have to.’

‘Wasn’t no trouble. I was making a batch for Ben and Percy. Anyhow, I wanted to say thank you.’ She shuddered. ‘Seeing the chapel on fire upset me awful.’