Beauty Chorus, The Read Online Free

diamonds. Fragments crunched beneath her shoes, the mournful ‘all clear’ siren rising and falling in a wave across the frozen air. From the centre of the road Stella scanned
the grey figures emerging like ghosts from a tomb. Then she saw her.
    ‘Auntie!’
    Dorothy looked over, ran to her. ‘I thought I’d lost you.’ They held tight to one another as weary figures drifted by.
    ‘I was just down the road.’
    ‘Come home now, love, let me make you some breakfast.’
    Stella slipped her hand into her coat pocket. The letter with her instructions was still there. Home. Where was home now? Richard was her home, her place in the world, and that had gone now.
‘I can’t. Please don’t let’s argue again.’
    ‘But you’ve only just arrived, and you’re the last! Your brother. My Nigel.’ Fear and sadness clouded her face. ‘This wretched war. We’ve lost everyone we
loved.’
    ‘That’s why I have to go.’
    ‘I can’t bear it.’ She hung her head. ‘Not you too. You’re so young.’
    ‘I’m old enough, and the ATA needs all the pilots it can get.’ A defiant, uncertain smile flickered across her lips. She glanced at her watch. ‘The morning train …
I must go.’ Dorothy nodded silently, fighting her tears. ‘Take care, Auntie,’ Stella whispered as she kissed her. The scent of violets lingered as she walked away. Stella turned
back, her face bright in the morning sun, and waved. ‘I’ll be home soon!’

 
    3
    Megan cycled along the coast path above Barafundle Bay, the wind whipping her dark curls, the dogs racing joyfully behind her. Her battered brown leather sheepskin flying
jacket was zipped up to her chin, but she was still freezing. Her face and hands were pinched by the cold air as it skimmed across the dunes and cliffs from the glittering sea below. Gulls wheeled
in the clear Pembrokeshire sky, a rosy sun rising on the horizon. At the hangar on the far side of the airfield she swung her right leg over the bike, freewheeling to a standstill by the main
door.
    ‘Come on boys! Rex!’ she called. The old collie perked up his ears, left the rabbit warren he was nosing around and raced towards her. Megan heaved open the door and dawn light
flooded the dark interior of the hangar. Her breath hung in a cloud on the freezing air. It was as if the Tiger Moth was waiting for her, and as she walked by she touched the wing as if she were
greeting an old friend. She sprang up into the cockpit and sighed contentedly. She lost herself running through procedures, closed her eyes as she handled the controls, imagined soaring out over
the sea. By the time the dogs barked, the sun was high in the sky.
    ‘I thought I’d find you here.’ Rhodri strode through the open door. ‘What are you doing, love?’
    ‘Oh you made me jump, Da!’ It felt strange to smile. Since the news about Huw there had been no laughter in the house. ‘I’m just practising. It’s been so long since
I’ve flown.’
    ‘You’ll be the best pilot there.’ Rhodri smiled up at her. ‘The ATA are lucky to have you.’ He offered her his hand as she jumped down. ‘Some lads from the
RAF are coming to pick this old girl up in the next couple of days. I think they’re taking her up to the base at Angle.’
    ‘They’d better take good care of her.’ Megan patted the wing. She was the same height as her father, and she had his dark curls, though his were streaked with grey now.
‘Come on, love, your mother’s got lunch waiting, and your cousins have come over from Tenby.’
    Megan bridled. ‘What are they doing here?’ She stooped to pick up her bike, and wheeled it beside her father as they crossed the old airfield.
    ‘Don’t be like that,’ he said gently. ‘Without your brother, God rest him, there’s no one to take on the farm and airfield after the war. They are
family—’
    ‘No!’ Her temper flared. ‘The airfield was Huw’s, and mine.’ She fought the wave of nausea as she thought of her