Read Online Princess Elizabeth's Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal - Free Book Online

“Call his parents?”
    “His commanding officer did.” Then, “Maggie, I’m so sorry—if there’s anything I can do—” But the receiver had slipped from her fingers and hit the floor with a dull thud. Maggie drew up her feet and laid her head on her knees as the tears finally came.
    She didn’t know how long she’d sat there, crying, when Mrs. Forrester found her. “Are you all right, dear?” she inquired from the doorway.
    Maggie looked up, her face tearstained, hot, and red, and made an attempt to wipe at her nose with her hand. She tried to speak and nothing came out but more silent sobs.
    “There, now,” Mrs. Forrester said, sitting beside her and replacing the phone’s receiver. She procured a starched linen handkerchief from the depths of her bosom. “Here you go,” she said, handing it to Maggie.
    “Thank you,” Maggie managed, wiping at her eyes and nose.
    Mrs. Forrester sat next to her, a plump and comforting presence, not saying a word.
    Maggie took a rattling breath. “I think—I think he might be dead,” she said finally.
    “Who, dear?”
    “John, Flight Lieutenant John Sterling.”
    “Air Force?”
    “Yes.”
    “His plane crashed. In Germany.”
    “Yes.”
    “I don’t know. He might have jumped before the crash. No one knows.…”
    “Then that, my dear, is what you have to hold on to. That your young man’s alive and he’ll send word. Maybe not today. Or tomorrow. But that he
will.
”
    Mrs. Forrester stared through the window, a distant look on her face. “It’s what I did. When I got the phone call about my Bernie.”
    Maggie wiped again and looked up.
    “My husband. The Great War. He was a pilot too. Plane went down over France. He was missing too.”
    “And—did he come home?”
    There was a pause as the question hung in the air. “No, dear,” Mrs. Forrester said. “But I felt it was my sacred duty to hold on to hope for as long as possible.
    “Now, I want you to go and wash your face with cold water. And then come to the kitchen and I’ll make us both a nice cup of tea. You’ve got a long journey ahead of you—waiting and then dealing with what you learn—and you won’t be any good to anyone if you don’t keep your strength up.”
    When Maggie made no effort to move, Mrs. Forrester stood up and grasped Maggie’s hand, pulling the young woman to her feet. “One foot in front of the other, dear. That’s how all journeys start. Go upstairs. Go.”
    As Maggie, zombie-like, made her way up the stairs, she heard Mrs. Forrester mutter to herself, “And
this
is why we didn’t want this damned war.”
    Maggie heard the front door open and footsteps in the hall. “David?” she called, suddenly wary.
    “Just me,” she heard.
    Maggie sprang to her feet. “Chuck!” For those low gruff tones could belong only to Charlotte McCaffrey, known to all as Chuck. She ran to the tall, broad-shouldered woman and gave her a big hug.
    “Maggie!” Chuck’s strong features were rendered something close to beautiful with her smile. “Wasn’t expecting you tonight! But I’m glad to see you.” She slipped off her low-heeled oxfords and sank into the sofa, sprawling in her inimitable Chuck-like way. Maggie studied her, for she hadn’t seen her since the end of the summer. Same chestnut hair, same thick, dark eyelashes, same sturdy build. It was good to see her.
    “Long shift?” Maggie asked. Chuck was a nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.
    She stretched and yawned. “Endless.”
    “David and I already ate, but there are leftovers, if you’re hungry. Can I warm something up for you?”
    “Thanks, but I already ate at the hospital. Though what passes for food there just might get us admitted as patients. So, I know you can’t tell me much.…” Chuck began.
    “Anything, really.”
    “And that’s fine. I just need to know one thing.”
    “Yes?”
    “Can you get away right after the new year? Come to Leeds?” Leeds was Chuck’s