Mrs. Witherspoon Goes to War, page 13
Peggy released the air held captive in her lungs but knew she wasn’t out of the woods yet. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell the major. She simply wanted to know what it was she would tell him first. It would be silly to say she had found a random piece of paper, decided to take it, and discover it was nothing more than a shopping list or something else innocuous. Once she knew exactly what she had, she would inform him if it was relevant.
The debrief went without incident, and everyone filed out of the room except Major Berg. “Witherspoon, could you stay a minute?”
She swallowed hard. “Sure.” He must know something.
Jolene gave her a look. “I’ll wait for you at the end of the corridor.” She left.
Peggy stood at attention. “Yes, sir.”
He sighed and shook his head. “At ease.”
She shifted to parade rest. Was she still acting not normal?
“About the other day.”
The other day?
“The gathering at your home. I know the captains and I probably shouldn’t have come, but I noticed they both could use morale boosts. I hope you didn’t mind too much.”
Her get-together? So, he wasn’t going to further grill her on the mission. She breathed easier. “It seemed to be good for everyone.”
“I wanted to bring this up after supper at your house the other night but wasn’t sure how.”
She had suspected he was going to say something. Now she was doubly curious. “What is it?”
“About what happened in the living room.”
The memory of him holding her in his arms flashed in her mind, and her skin warmed.
“I want to apologize for my actions. I thought I could pretend it didn’t happen and avoid talking about it, but I feel I should say something. I was afraid you were going to fall, and then I lost my cane and was off balance. I know it sounds like I’m making excuses.”
It did sound that way. So had he not been thinking of kissing her before Junie interrupted? “I appreciate you seeing to my safety. I understand it was nothing more.”
He was silent.
“Is that all, sir?”
“No. And no it wasn’t nothing for me.” He rubbed his hand across his jaw. “I know it should be nothing, and I’ve tried making it nothing, but there is something there. Between us. I felt it again at Wendy’s spelling bee. Also at supper four nights ago. If I’m not mistaken, you have felt it too.”
She had. “Anything but professional interaction would be frowned upon. I won’t dishonor the Women Airforce Service Pilots program by doing anything that could jeopardize it.”
His mouth twitched as though it wanted to smile. “I’m not asking you to. Maybe when this war is over, you might be open to revisiting this topic?”
“I don’t know.”
He lifted a hand to stop her. “Don’t worry about answering now. It’s enough you know I’m interested, and that I will do nothing to compromise or threaten your position. The work you do is too important.”
“When I first met you, I thought you didn’t like the WASP program and didn’t think women should fly.”
“I can see how I could have come off that way. The truth is, I was terrified for your safety. I was raised to always protect women and to do everything in my power to keep them out of harm’s way. And there you were flirting with danger. I actually really admired your bravery, but I’ll never get used to women being in danger.”
That was really very sweet. She wanted to respond to his declaration of affection. She both wanted to fall head long into it and at the same time rebuff it. Even though her husband had passed away over fifteen months ago, she still felt married. Because it happened way over in Europe, it never seemed quite real. She knew he was gone and that he would never return from war a living, breathing man. Another part of her could picture him still over there.
Though his death had been confirmed, his body hadn’t been returned yet. She, along with her daughters and mother, had a small memorial service in the backyard to allow her daughters to grieve and move on. She had started mourning, then one day, she had stopped. The pain had been too great and so she had thrown herself into her work as a WASP.
“Sir, each day feels like that day the colonel knocked on my door and told me my husband wasn’t coming home. I don’t know if I’ll ever get over the loss.” Oddly, a part of her never had. Her loss was the last thing of her husband she had to hold on to. If she held it tightly enough, she somehow still had a piece of him. “And I have my daughters to consider.” Although, witnessing the major interacting with them had gone a long way in mending her heart and her daughters’ hearts. Still, it was scary. She knew she was probably hiding behind her husband’s death, but she needed to for now.
He nodded. “I understand. Know that I expect nothing from you and won’t bring this matter up again. I merely wanted to clear the air. I didn’t want it hovering over you wondering about it and what it meant. I will wait until the war is over.” After a moment, he said softly, “Dismissed.”
She left. In the corridor, she leaned against the wall and took controlled breaths. A part of her wanted to fall into his arms and let him take care of her and everything in her life. But that wasn’t who she was. To crumble into pieces wouldn’t do her or her daughters any good. Nor would it do the major any good. Her late husband would be disappointed in her.
Late husband. Was that the first time she had thought of him as such? It wasn’t as though she never had, but it was always the correction after first thinking or speaking of him as her husband, no past tense. He was gone, and she needed to correct her thinking or she would never move on. If her daughters were going to heal and build happy lives, Peggy needed to start building her life again and try to be happy. She needed to stop living in the past.
She wanted to be happy again, and she had been for a couple of brief moments at the get-together. Once when the major had rescued Junie’s doll from the tree and read to her. The other was when he’d accidentally held her in his arms. She’d thought that had meant nothing to him. Knowing differently now made her want more. She couldn’t afford to want more in her present circumstances. Her daughters came first, and she had the Women Airforce Service Pilots. Her job was important and necessary for the war effort.
Her whole adult life had been hard. The years leading up to the war had been lean, but she and George had made a good life and were happy. At least when he was home. Come to think of it, he hadn’t been around much. First with their airplane business before the US got involved in the war. After that, he’d been in military school, then moving from place to place, and him off on military missions, even before the war broke out. Once the war started, he’d joined up and shipped overseas.
And that was the last she’d seen of him.
Knowing his body was still someplace in Europe left her feeling suspended between the past and the future without really being in the present. Even though they’d had their little “funeral,” she didn’t have the closure other wives and families had who’d been able to bury an actual body.
The major’s desk sergeant came down the hallway.
Enough wallowing. Time to move along. Peggy pushed away from the wall and strolled along the corridor. She nodded to the sergeant as she passed him and caught up with Jolene at the designated spot.
Jolene straightened as Peggy approached. “I was getting worried. What did the major want?”
To dredge up too many memories. Peggy wasn’t about to tell her comrade about the incident in her living room with the major. “It was nothing.”
Jolene narrowed her eyes. She likely didn’t believe Peggy. No matter.
Peggy disregarded the topic. She needed to forget about that discussion with the major, forget he ever held her in his arms, and forget her heart longed to go back to him.
Howie dropped his face into his hands. He’d said too much. He hadn’t meant to tell her how he felt. He’d only wanted to tell her to not worry about the whole situation. Now she probably thought he was going to pursue her. He wasn’t. Unless, of course, she was interested in him as well.
He shook his head. What was he thinking? Now was not the time to be considering matters of the heart. There was a war going on. He didn’t have time for such things. And she certainly didn’t need him complicating her life. Besides, why would she want to be saddled with a half-crippled man?
He had enjoyed reading to Junie, attending Wendy’s spelling bee, and having supper with Peggy and her family. He never would have imagined how much joy those events would give him.
Had he botched up everything with the pretty widow?
He had asked the Lord to direct the conversation with her. So maybe it wasn’t as bad as he imagined. Or maybe the Lord had other ideas and had directed the conversation along a path neither he nor Peggy was ready to go down.
CHAPTER 16
Peggy walked with Jolene between buildings at Bolling Airfield. Her fellow WASP had gotten called away yesterday before Peggy could show her the paper from Cuba.
The numbers and names scrawled on it had kept her awake half the night. The urgency she’d felt at the hangar in Cuba didn’t seem as intense. Almost as though it had settled into a low hum in the background. Had she been wrong? Had the immediacy been nothing more than her own nerves fearful of being caught? But caught doing what? The paper could easily be an old note where someone had scrawled down unrelated items.
Jolene leaned a little closer. “Did you figure out what that piece of paper you had on the cargo plane was?”
Peggy shook her head, feeling foolish for causing even this little fuss about it.
“Where did you get it?”
“Not here.” Peggy kept walking. Even though she doubted the validity of the note, something inside told her it would be prudent to use caution.
As a colonel headed their general direction on a trajectory to cross their path, they snapped to attention and saluted. He saluted back and continued on his way.
Peggy let out a breath she hadn’t realized she held. “Where can we go that’s private?” Not living on Bolling Airfield, she didn’t know the complex as well as the other WASPs.
“No one is usually in the barracks this time of day.”
“Perfect.”
She marched to the building and sat on Jolene’s lower bunk with her friend. She pulled the crumpled paper from her pocket. “When I was in the hangar, two sergeants were arguing. One wanted to rescue some soldiers. It sounded as though they were someplace and needed help or something, as though they were being held captive. The other said they couldn’t because of relations with Cuba and not wanting to start an international incident. The one sergeant didn’t want to abandon the men.”
“Are you sure?
“He said the soldiers were on the west end of the island. The sergeant left this on one of the shelves before he walked away.” At least Peggy believed he’d left it. “I think he wanted me to take it.”
“Is that why you dropped the screwdriver? So you could grab the paper?”
“How did you know?”
Jolene shrugged. “I didn’t at the time, but I put it together. It’s what I would have done so no one would suspect. Show me the note.”
“It has numbers and names.” Peggy unfurled it.
Jolene took it for a closer examination.
Peggy pointed to the numbers. “If I’m not mistaken, those are latitude and longitude.”
“I concur. I wish we could consult a detailed map of Cuba to see if these coordinates point to the western tip. And the names? Are those the soldiers?”
“I assume so.” Williams, Gillespie, and Nelson.
“What do we do if these are coordinates on the west part of Cuba somewhere?”
Peggy hadn’t figured that part out yet. “I don’t know. One step at a time. If they point to someplace in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, then we can forget all about this, and chalk it up to another juvenile joke of army soldiers and my overactive imagination.” She would feel pretty silly if this was all for naught, although pleased, knowing soldiers weren’t in danger.
“Our first step is to get into the cartography room and consult the maps to locate these coordinates.”
From the end of the room, a woman spoke. “What do you need in cartography?”
Peggy jerked her head up as she crammed the paper under her thigh. “Hi, Brownie.” Brownie was a good egg, but the fewer people in on her little secret the better. At least, until they knew more and could corroborate what indeed this note contained.
Brownie, still with a limp—though she wouldn’t admit it—stopped next to the bunk. “Hi.” She deadpanned. “Cartography? What do you need in there?”
Jolene cleared her throat. “We didn’t say cartography. We said…photography.”
Their fellow WASP made a circling motion with her index finger. “Though large, sound travels way too well in this sparse room. I distinctly heard cartography, maps, and coordinates. Spill.”
Brownie might be the answer to this problem. She had a knack for maps and coordinates.
“I was testing Jolene on some coordinates to see if she could tell me where in the world they point to. She thinks someplace in Mexico, and I think they are in the Caribbean.”
A grin brightened Brownie’s face. “Fun. What are they?”
Hopefully, this was the right thing to do. Her friend would merely think the numbers were chosen at random. Having read them so many times, she didn’t even need to reference the paper. “Twenty-two, eleven, fifty-one point zero seven five. And negative eighty-four, twenty-three, fifty-eight point five two four.”
Brownie’s gaze rolled heavenward. “Could you repeat those coordinates?”
Peggy did so more slowly this time.
Her friend’s fingers and lips moved as though counting. “You’re both close, but Peggy’s closer. I think it’s somewhere in Cuba or pretty close.”
Peggy glanced at Jolene who gave her a pointed look back.
“Am I right?” Brownie lowered her hands.
The girl knew she was right. It was her forte.
“You got it.”
“Didn’t you two just get back from a run to Cuba?”
Oops. “We did. Maybe that’s why those coordinates popped into my head.”
Brownie put her hands on her hips. “Or maybe you two are up to something and it has to do with your trip to Cuba. Spill the beans.”
Peggy and Jolene exchanged glances again.
Brownie huffed. “Now, I know something is up.”
Jolene shrugged. “You might as well fill her in.”
“Yep,” their nosy friend answered. “You might as well, because I’m not leaving until you do.”
Peggy heaved a sigh. “You can’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t.” Brownie gripped the fabric at the hips of her too large zoot suit and hiked it up. Like Peggy, Brownie was small and the coveralls were all made for the much larger male physique.
Peggy handed the paper to Brownie. “A sergeant at the airstrip where we landed gave that to me. Not exactly gave. More like left it for me to pick up. He said three soldiers were being held on the west end of the island. I believe these are the men’s names and the coordinates of where they are being detained.”
“These are definitely latitude and longitude. What did Major Berg say about this?”
“I didn’t tell him.” Yet. But she likely would…eventually. “I need to find out more first. I need to see where exactly this is on a map.”
“I’m in. Let me help figure this out. Tomorrow I’ll be in the cartography room and can pinch a map of Cuba.”
“No. Don’t do that. I don’t want you to get into trouble.”
Brownie stuck the tip of her tongue out from between her pressed lips, thinking. “I could put down pertinent information on a piece of paper and then reconstruct it back here.”
“Perfect.”
The next day, the trio met in the barracks. Today, three other WASPs were in there as well. Brownie held a rolled-up piece of brown paper clutched in one hand.
Jolene inclined her head toward the other occupants in the room. “This won’t do.”
Peggy agreed. “Follow me.”
She drove them in her Ford to the far side of the tarmac that wasn’t part of the active runways, to a place dubbed the Graveyard. The remote location where derelict aircraft that were out of commission for one reason or another sat, waiting to be scrapped or to decay. Few ever left. An occasional plane found this to be merely a temporary resting place until it could be repaired and find its way back into the air. Most had been stripped of anything valuable.
She parked between a pair of larger aircraft so her automobile wouldn’t be conspicuously out of place. The nearest aircraft would suit their purposes.
Peggy dragged a nearby crate over and stood on it. She heaved open the creaky door, cringed at the noise, and hoisted herself inside the fuselage of a large cargo plane. It had been gutted and the parts used on other aircraft. The other two came in after her and sat on the floor. Peggy sat as well.
Brownie rolled out her piece of slightly crinkled brown paper.
Jolene squinted at it. “I thought you were going to make a map.”
“No, what I said was, I would mark down pertinent information so I could reconstruct it later.”
“But there’s nothing here.” Jolene waved a hand at the blank paper.
Had Peggy made a mistake by bringing Brownie in on this?
Brownie heaved a breath. “You don’t think they would just let me walk out of cartography with an actual map, did you?”
“Well, I thought you would at least have something. Even a faint outline.”
“But I do.”
She pointed to several creases in the paper. “These folds show where Cuba is.” With her pencil, she sketched in the island. “This hole in the paper is Havana. This crease on this edge is Florida.” The girl kept drawing until all the creases and holes where either connected or labeled. She tucked the pencil behind her ear. “Voilà. Your map.”
It was indeed a map…and appeared to be quite accurate.
