Night Over Water - Ken Follett [211]
After a while he murmured in her ear: “Look outside.”
The submarine was slowly slipping beneath the waves.
Margaret smiled up at Harry and then kissed him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
When it was all over, Carol-Ann would not touch Eddie.
She sat in the dining room, sipping hot milky coffee prepared by Davy, the steward. She was pale and shaky, but she kept saying she was all right. However, she flinched every time Eddie put his hand on her.
He sat close, looking at her, but she would not meet his eyes. They spoke in low voices about what had happened. She told him obsessively, again and again, how the men had burst into the house and dragged her out into their car. “I was standing there bottling plums!” she kept saying, as if that was the most outrageous aspect of the whole episode.
“It’s all over now,” he would say each time, and she would nod her head vigorously, but he could tell she did not believe it.
At last she looked at him and said: “When will you have to fly next?”
Then he understood. She was frightened about how she would feel the next time he left her alone. He felt relieved: he could reassure her about that, easily. “I won’t be flying anymore,” he told her. “I’m resigning right away. They’d have to fire me otherwise: they can’t employ an engineer who deliberately brought a plane down the way I did.”
Captain Baker overheard part of the conversation, and interrupted him. “Eddie, there’s something I have to say to you. I understand what you did. You were put in an impossible position and you handled it the best you could. More than that, I don’t know another man that would have handled it so well. You were brave and you were smart, and I’m proud to fly with you.”
“Thank you, sir,” Eddie said, and there was a lump in his throat. “I can’t tell you how good that makes me feel.” Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Percy Oxenford, sitting alone, looking shocked. “Sir, I think we all should thank young Percy: he saved the day!”
Percy heard him and looked up.
“Good point,” said the captain. He patted Eddie on the shoulder and went over to shake the boy’s hand. “You’re a brave man, Percy.”
Percy cheered up instantly. “Thank you!” he said.
The captain sat down to chat with him, and Carol-Ann said to Eddie : “If you’re not flying, what will we do?”
“I’ll start that business we’ve been talking about.”
He could see the hope in her face, but she did not really believe it yet. “Can we?”
“I’ve got enough money saved to buy the airfield, and I’ll borrow what I need to get started.”
She was visibly brightening by the second. “Could we run it together?” she said. “Maybe I could keep the books and answer the phone while you do repairs and refueling?”
He smiled and nodded. “Sure, at least until the baby comes.”
“Just like a mom-and-pop store.”
He reached out and took her hand, and this time she did not flinch, but squeezed his hand in return. “Mom and Pop,” he said, and at last she smiled.
Nancy was hugging Mervyn when Diana tapped him on the shoulder.
Nancy had been lost in joy and relief, overwhelmed by the pleasure of being alive and with the man she loved. Now she wondered if Diana would cast a cloud over this moment. Diana had left Mervyn indecisively, and she had shown signs of regretting it, off and on, ever since. He had just proved that he still cared for her by bargaining with the gangsters to save her. Was she about to beg him to take her back?
Mervyn turned and gave his wife a guarded look. “Well, Diana?”
Her face was wet with tears, but she had a determined expression. “Will you shake hands?” she said.
Nancy was not sure what this meant, and Mervyn’s wary manner told her that he, too, was uncertain. However, he offered his hand, saying: “Of course.”
Diana held his hand in both of hers. New tears came, and Nancy felt sure she was about to say Let