All she wanted to do was bury herself under the blankets and wake up to find it was all a dream

The Serial: The Pepper Girls At War Day 52

Despite shortages, RAF Lossiemouth made an effort to sprinkle festive happiness around the camp and by the time Christmas Eve came around, everyone was getting into the spirit.

“The NAAFI looks great,” Lexie said to Lucy, as they queued up for a quick lunch before going back on duty.

“Have you heard from Brad Hollis?” Lexie asked, knowing Lucy had been desolate when the Canadian pilot left for Montrose.

Lucy shrugged. “Not a cheep,” she said, sighing, “but there’s the Christmas dance tonight, so I’m just going to forget about him and enjoy myself.”

Lexie squeezed her arm, knowing it was bravado that spoke so casually about Brad and Lucy was missing him badly.

Lexie hadn’t heard from Bo either but at least she knew he was safe thanks to Winnie and her updates.

“I’m sure he’ll get in touch soon,” she said, unable to tell Lucy much more, “try not to worry”.

Last update

Lunch over, Lexie returned to the Comms Room and contacted Winnie for the last update of the day. She keyed in the code for Montrose and waited. A few minutes later, the teleprinter sprung into life.

Lexie felt her blood run cold as she read the report.

“Three Lossiemouth Wellington bombers lost. One ditched into North Sea. All crew missing. One shot down by anti-aircarft fire from German gunboat. No survivors. One aircraft missing, suspected lost over Norwegian soil. No further information on crew at this time.” Lexie responded with shaking hands. “Require ASAP bomber details and crew identification.”

Lexie waited, barely able to breathe as the list of names came through along with the aircraft details. Brad Hollis was among the names and, to her horror, so was Rainbow McGhee.

Lexie felt faint and leaned over to force the blood back to her brain. Sgt Brady noticed and quickly came over to her.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, placing his arm around Lexie’s shoulder as he read the teleprinter report. He tore it off and helped Lexie to her feet.

“Go to the sick bay,” he said, “I’ll take this to Wing Commander Johnson.”

Ten crew were dead and five missing, Lexie counted in her head as she stumbled to the sick bay, the shock igniting a rush of adrenaline through her limbs. One look was enough for the duty doctor to know the WAAF was in total shock.

He called for a nurse and led Lexie to the same bed she’d found herself in when she’d heard the news of Euan’s death. She had felt bad then, but this time the news was about Bo.

Lexie felt the jab of a needle in her arm, then darkness. “That should calm things down for a while,” the doctor said. “Let me know when she comes round.”

Wing Commander Johnson read the printout from the Comms Room. “Do we know the names of the crew who got to Norway?” he asked solemnly, looking to Sgt Brady for the answer.

“Not yet,” the sergeant said, “but I’ll get on to it right away.” “Let me know as soon as possible,” Johnny Johnson said, “the Norwegian Underground network is pretty strong and if any of our men have survived, they’ll know about it.”

News spreads

Sgt Brady saluted. “And by the way, Sergeant,” the Wing Commander added, bleakly, “Christmas is cancelled.”

Despite being top secret, news of the doomed bombers and their crews somehow filtered through the ‘grapevine’ at RAF Lossiemouth, leaving no one in the mood to celebrate Christmas any more.

Lexie was discharged from the sick bay on Christmas morning, to be sent for by Sgt Brady. All she wanted to do was bury herself under the blankets and wake up to find it was all a dream.

She hurried to her quarters and freshened up as best she could, trying to regain the sense of duty that had deserted her.

She closed her eyes and prayed. “Bring him back to me,” she whispered to God, “I can’t live without him.”

In the silence that followed, Lexie reached for the blue silk bag and took out Bo’s ring. She didn’t care who knew about her love for him now as she slipped the ring on her finger again.

“I’m wearing your ring Bo,” she said aloud into the emptiness, “and I’ll never take it off, no matter what.”

Sgt Brady was waiting for her in the deserted Comms Room and motioned her to sit down.

He handed Lexie a sheet of paper. “This is the names of the crew who got to Norway,” he said, “but we don’t know if they’re alive or dead.”

Lexie read the names and hope sprung up in her heart, Bo and Brad Hollis, as pilot and co-pilot had been on the plane that had managed to get to Norway.

A wave of relief washed over her and she felt for the ring through her glove. As long as she wore Bo’s ring, she told herself, he’d return to her. She only had to wait. But there was still no news of their whereabouts as 1942 began.

The weather had worsened again and everything was grounded, including Lexie. She continued writing letters to her mother in the hope that, one day, she’d receive them and it was the same with letters coming from home, varying from infrequent to never.

One flight, however, did get through and Lexie had two letters to open. One was from Bo and one from home. She ran to her quarters, clutching the precious envelopes and immediately opened the one from Bo.

Wonderful memory

The letter was dated the day after their meeting in Edinburgh and brought back the wonderful memory of their love for one another. She held the letter to her lips and kissed his name, as tears blurred her eyes.

She drank some tea and tried to calm her heart down, before opening her mother’s letter. It was some relief that Lexie read her mum had got through Christmas, but the letter went on to tell Lexie all about Nancy, her pregnancy and Annie’s visit to Billy Dawson.

Lexie read on. ‘Nancy’s not wanting anything more to do with her husband and it looks like there’s another man in her life, so I’m hoping that her father can make her see sense about everything. I’ll let you know what happens.’

The rest of the letter was about missing Lexie and hoping to see her soon, but Lexie was transfixed with the news about Nancy.

So, she was with the man from the Palais that night and Lexie came to the same conclusion that he was the father of her bairn, despite Nancy having denied the fact. She just hoped her mother would stay out of things, but already it was obvious this wasn’t going to happen.

(More tomorrow.)