The once-familiar landscape seemed alien as she walked down the road to the manor house with her suitcases. The plowed fields were deserted and overgrown with weeds, the road rutted and scarred from Army jeeps, casualties of war just like her. Like her child. Eve had walked this road with Mum to begin work as a scullery maid. She had left on this road to become a typist, then an ATS driver. She never had imagined that she would return as a servant. But she would do it willingly if Audrey allowed her to stay.
She halted inside the open gates for a moment, setting down her suitcases to catch her breath. She looked up at the imposing stone facade with its mullioned windows. They stared back at her in cold silence, offering no welcome. Wellingford Hall revived memories of Alfie. She’d said goodbye to him here—and goodbye to the foolish dream of becoming his wife and the lady of Wellingford Hall. It also brought back memories of Louis.
Eve sighed and hefted her suitcases again. Mum had worked so hard to make sure Eve had a better life, far from Wellingford. Eve understood now why Mum had stayed, why she’d sacrificed everything for the child she loved. Eve would do the same.
She walked around to the servants’ door, back to where she’d started.
Audrey sat at her desk in the small sitting room, trying to describe to Robert the soft brush of the baby’s movements inside her. They feel like feathery angels’ wings, she wrote. She wished she could tell him in person, but the bureaucratic paperwork that would allow her and thousands of other war brides to come to America moved at a frustrating pace. Some of her fellow “wallflower wives” protested outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, others outside the hotel where Eleanor Roosevelt, the former president’s wife, stayed. Audrey missed Robert terribly, the ache of loneliness nearly unbearable at times. His letters offered the only bright spots in her long days of waiting.
She heard a knock and turned to see Robbins in the doorway, a hint of a smile on his face. “Someone to see you, Miss Audrey.” He stood aside and there was Eve, looking cold and weary in her worn wool coat. Audrey hurried forward to embrace her.
“Eve! What a surprise! Oh, it’s so good to see you!” And it was good—wonderful, in fact. Audrey had missed Eve more than she’d imagined she would. “Robbins, please take Eve’s coat. And will you bring us some tea, please?”
“Yes, Miss Audrey.”
“Come through and sit down, Eve. Tell me what brings you here on this cold winter day.” Eve didn’t reply. Instead, she rested her hand on her middle. On a bump the same size and shape as the one Audrey had. Audrey backed up a few steps and sat down on her desk chair in astonishment. “Eve! A baby?”
“Yes. A baby.”
“But who . . . ? How . . . ?”
“Does it matter?”
“How could you do such a thing!”
The words slipped out before Audrey could stop them. She and Eve had heard so many stories during the war about girls who’d gotten into trouble. They’d listened to so many dire warnings about the consequences of having a baby out of wedlock that Audrey believed Eve too wise, too self-confident and ambitious to end up in this condition. Besides, Audrey was with Eve throughout the war. She didn’t have any boyfriends besides Alfie. The child couldn’t possibly be his.
“I need your help, Audrey, not your condemnation.”
“I’m sorry . . . It’s just such a shock! I never imagined you would do such a thing!”
“Because you wouldn’t? Oh, that’s right—you always follow the rules. And you never make mistakes, right?”
“Eve . . . I’m sorry . . .”
“I came to ask for a job as a servant here at Wellingford Hall. There aren’t a lot of other options for women in my condition. Will you hire me or should I apply elsewhere?”
Audrey’s reaction had hurt her. She could only imagine how much pride Eve had swallowed in order to come here. “I’m sorry,” she said again. “Please forgive my stupid outbursts. Of course you can stay, Eve, of course. Please, sit down.”
Robbins returned a few minutes later with the tea tray. The tension had a chance to defuse as he arranged a table between them and filled their cups. Eve looked as uncomfortable as she had the first time Audrey invited her to tea upstairs in the schoolroom. Eve didn’t reach for her cup or for the tea biscuits.
“Tell me what else I can do to help,” Audrey said after Robbins left. “What will you do after your baby is born?”
“I don’t know yet.”