The Secret Stealers by Jane Healey

Author:Jane Healey [Healey, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Historical, World War II, Romance, General, Women
Publisher: Amazon Publishing
Published: 2021-04-14T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Three

The full moon watched over us as we said our last good-byes to Violet and climbed the ladder to board the Lysander. My suitcases were jammed beneath our hinged wooden seats, and the rear cockpit was as cramped and uncomfortable as promised. The young pilot, Fitz Williams, performed his last checks. We could see the silhouettes of Violet Banks and Hugh Firth waving good-bye to us as the Lysander, or “Lizzy,” turned its nose to the runway and departed for Avaray, France. I opened Phillip’s letter just as we were taking off. Hugh Firth had been right: your eyes do adjust to the moonlight.

22/12/42

My dear Anna,

I stayed up half the night thinking, and I was compelled to write you this letter and only hope you receive it before you leave. I was contemplating what our lives would be like if we had met during a different time, when things were calmer and we would have the time together I so wish we could have now.

There was so much I wanted to say to you last night when we said good-bye, but I did not. Why? Mostly because we British are a tad reserved with our emotions. And, of course, we were saying good-bye once more, with no guarantees in this war. You called us “star-crossed,” and perhaps we are, although there is something about that word I dislike, for it evokes a feeling that we are doomed to always be this way.

I know you lost your husband, and I don’t pretend to know how that feels. When I am with you, I feel you holding back, protecting yourself from heartache, and that I understand completely. I only hope you someday realize that if you continue to keep walls up around your heart, you’ll have only lived half a life.

Of all the star-crossed lovers in history and literature, I’d like to think we are most like Odysseus and Penelope in Homer’s Odyssey. They were apart for twenty years through trials and tribulations, but he found his way back to her. That is my wish—to find my way back to you in the madness that is wartime.

Take care, and for the love of God, be safe. I will be thinking of you and of course worrying about you . . . until we meet again.

Yours,

Phillip

Reading the letter both warmed me and made me miss Phillip even more. But it also calmed my nerves and took my mind off the present dangers of our late-night flight across the channel to the Continent.

I folded it and put it back in my pocket, feeling heartbroken I couldn’t keep it. I wanted it for posterity, because despite it all, I knew it was quite possible I might never see Phillip Stanhope again. I was grateful to the man who had brought the possibility of love back into my life. He hadn’t said he loved me, but I could feel it in his words. And I hadn’t even realized how much I needed to feel that until I read the letter.

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