waving her WRNS cap above her head. And the autumn sunlight glinted on the blond hair of the two sailors who waved back at her, equally enthusiastically, from their stations on deck beside the flagstaff.
The far side of the loch was crowded with merchant ships now, and the naval escort had gathered in the bay at Mellon Charles. Next week, the first convoy of the season would depart from Loch Ewe, but for now the water could hardly be seen between the vessels of the densely packed flotilla.
The hall at Aultbea was equally packed out for the Friday night dance when Flora, Mairi and Bridie walked in with their own escorts, Alec, Roy and Hal. By popular demand, the Aultbea Songbirds would be singing a couple of numbers later on, but first they took to the floor as the band struck up, determined to make the most of their few days together.
When Alec had arrived back from his duties, Flora had felt awkward in his company. The flash of temper she’d witnessed in him – so unlike his usual gentleness – had continued to unnerve her. She’d tried to put it out of her mind, telling herself it was just the stress of the convoys and the thought of being away at sea again for so many. But she’d come to realise that in the moment when he’d smashed his fist into the wall she’d recognised something else in him, something that made her physically recoil: a likeness to his father. She couldn’t push the thought away, nor the memory of the bruises that she’d glimpsed on the underside of Lady Helen’s wrist that evening when she’d helped with the dinner.
His absence had left a vacuum that doubts and fears could easily fill. And perhaps that was why she’d purposely kept herself so busy. As well as the evening concerts, she’d thrown herself into her work by day, taking on extra duties by volunteering to help maintain the engines on the smaller boats in addition to the ambulances at the base. She’d quickly discovered an aptitude for coaxing even the most reluctant of salt-scoured, waterlogged motors back into life. The distractions of her singing and her work – and the camaraderie of the other Wrens as well as the naval ratings she worked alongside – had helped the time to pass while Alec was away. More than that, she was also developing a new sense of fulfilment: a sense of her own self and her own voice. But would Alec like this new side to her? Flora thought of Lady Helen, who always seemed such a shadow of the woman she might really be. Would Flora, too, begin to disappear if she married Alec?
Despite her worries, when he appeared in the doorway of Keeper’s Cottage again she had the sense that Alec had grown more tentative, had lost something of his old self-assurance, just as she had become stronger, more confident in her work. He’d hesitated, as if unsure of his welcome, and she had quickly reached out and put her arms around him, closing the distance between them, reassuring him with her kiss that all was well and that she still loved him. It just needed a bit of time for them both to readjust to being back together, she’d told herself. She tried again to brush aside the image of his face darkened with anger when he’d punched the stable wall. Whenever she thought of it now, it was Sir Charles’s face she pictured, and that image unsettled her more than Alec’s rage.
Their old closeness came flooding back, though, as they spent time together walking along the shore or into the hills above Ardtuath House. It was easier, too, when they were with Mairi and Roy and Bridie and Hal, whose happiness was infectious.
Earlier that day, before the dance, the three couples had hiked over the hills to Slaggan Bay and sprawled on picnic rugs spread over the hummocks of marram grass at the edge of the crescent of golden sand. From that angle, the ships moored in the loch were hidden by the shoulder of land that enclosed the beach, allowing them to forget the convoy’s impending departure for an hour or two.
Roy and Hal told stories of the Atlantic crossings they’d taken part in since they were last at Aultbea, which had taken them to Portsmouth and Liverpool.
‘It was kinda frustrating being so near and yet so far,’ Roy said.
Hal grinned. ‘We tried to get a