Keep the Home Fires Burning: Part Three: Strangers Amongst Us

By S. Block

In Britain's darkest hour, an extraordinary community of women strives to protect the Home Front. When an enemy plane crashes in the village, every one of their lives will change forever . . .

PART THREE in a brand new FOUR-PART serial from the creator of ITV's smash hit series, Home Fires. The struggle intensifies . . . Great Paxford has sat almost unchanged at the intersection of three Cheshire hills for nearly six hundred years, but as the war pushes more and more people out of the cities and into the countryside, the women of the WI see the face of their village changing. Teresa Lucas has being building up her defences, but a temptation she can't avoid could bring her world crashing down. Though her home is in turmoil, Frances Barden will not bend, will not break. She will chart a course through these troubles for both the WI and her small family. Pat Simms thought she'd lost everything, but now she might have a chance . . . And Steph Farrow finds herself front and centre in the village's struggle with an influx of strangers. Through everything the WI has been a source of strength, a safe haven in difficult times, but can it survive as its members find themselves on different sides? Don't miss a minute of this enthralling new series. Keep the Home Fires Burning - Part One: Spitfire Down! is out now. Search 9781785763564. Can't wait for the rest of the story? Keep the Home Fires Burning - Part Four: A Soldier Returns . . . is available for pre-order. Search 9781785763595. Perfect for fans of Call the Midwife, Granchester and Foyles War. If you adore the novels of Nadine Dorries, Diney Costello and Daisy Styles then this is an unmissable series for you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zaffre
• Release date: May 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9781499861624

Book preview

Chapter 36

Having called an emergency general meeting of the WI to discuss the impact of nightly trekkers on their community, on the given evening Frances wanted only to remain at home, within earshot of the telephone and possible news about Noah. Since he had run away a day and a half earlier from the boarding school, nothing had been seen or heard of the child.

As soon as Claire had run into the village and told Frances of Noah’s disappearance, Frances had abandoned her plan to resurrect her friendship with Alison, and had run home to immediately telephone the school’s headmaster.

‘The first thing I want to say to you, Mrs Barden,’ Dr Nelms intoned, in a manner designed to calm the fears of any mother anxious about their son in his care, ‘is that there is no cause for alarm.’

‘I really find it difficult to understand how you can say that, Dr Nelms,’ Frances replied, astonished by his cavalier attitude in the face of what appeared to her to be a grave crisis.

‘I can assure you, boys abscond quite regularly.’

‘Odd how you didn’t mention it when Noah and I came to look at your school prior to his enrolment.’

‘Boys running away is a common occurrence in all boarding schools. While most absconders are new boys, it isn’t unknown for more established boys to return to school after a particularly successful summer or Christmas break with parents, find school life difficult by comparison and try and make their way back home.’

‘So you think Noah is on his way home.’

‘It’s quite likely. Though more likely that—’

Frances cut him off.

‘May I remind you, Headmaster, we are talking about a child of eight years old. How on earth can you speak so blithely of an eight-year-old finding his way across country during war, with bombs falling nightly, and – if we are to believe even a tenth of the propaganda the government would have us believe – a landscape positively teeming with German spies?’

‘I strongly believe you have no cause for alarm. I am reminded of a particularly ingenious boy who managed to run away from school on his second day, would you believe. He made his way to Switzerland, where he knew his parents had gone on holiday. The boy had no idea which part of Switzerland his parents were visiting, and was caught by a platform guard as he tried to sneak aboard a train at Zurich’s central station.’

Frances was in no mood to be eased from her current state of extreme anxiety by supposedly reassuring stories that attempted to turn Noah’s running away from a cause for concern into a common, almost whimsical occurrence she need not worry about.

‘With the greatest respect, Dr Nelms, every minute you’re wasting trying to reassure me that Noah’s disappearance fits an established, harmless pattern is another minute in which we have no idea where he might be, or when he might come to light.’

‘Mrs Barden, I can assure you— ’

‘No, Headmaster. I have little or no interest in your assurances. They count for nothing. You gave me every assurance he was fitting in very well. Assurances that now seem utterly baseless. A child who shouldn’t be, is now missing. All I am seeking is reassurance that everything is being done to find him at the earliest opportunity.’

The headmaster of a respectable but middle-ranking boarding school stood little chance against Frances Barden in full flight. Few did.

‘I expected you to take great care of my— of Noah. I entrusted him to you. And he is gone.’

Frances had nearly described Noah as her ‘son’ but corrected herself before the word left her mouth. She didn’t want Dr Nelms to undermine her connection to Noah by correcting her description of him as her own child. Yet, to all intents and purposes, with both his parents deceased, Frances had started to consider herself to be Noah’s de facto parent.

‘Have you contacted the police?’ Frances asked curtly.

‘I really don’t think that’s necessary at this stage, Mrs Barden.’

‘At what stage might you think it necessary? After Noah’s been found? Assuming he is.’

Dr Nelms embarked on one final attempt to regain control of the situation.

‘Mrs Barden, in our experience, when a boy absconds— ’

‘Would you please stop using that word – he’s not a prisoner of war, he’s a schoolboy, a small child in unfamiliar surroundings with unfamiliar people doing unfamiliar things. Contrary to what you told me, he has evidently found it all too much. Otherwise he would remain with you, rushing between classroom and playing field with the other boys.’

‘In our experience, runaways are either found very quickly, or return to school of their own accord within hours, more often than not with their tails between their legs.’

‘Do you mean to say you haven’t even been looking for him? Noah hasn’t returned within the four hours it’s been since he was reported missing.’

‘That’s true, but— ’

‘Nor has he been found.’

‘You’re missing my point, Mrs Barden.’

‘No, Dr Nelms. You’re missing mine. I want the police involved. I want a manhunt. And I want it immediately.’

Dr Nelms reluctantly promised he would contact the police to see if Noah might have been picked up beyond the school grounds and handed into their care. He telephoned an hour later to report that the local police had received no stray children that day. Fortunately for Frances the police viewed Noah’s disappearance rather more urgently than Dr Nelms. But, as Frances said to Sarah – who had rushed over as soon as Frances telephoned her – ‘The police don’t have a reputation to shield, unlike that damned school!’

The Cheshire police assured Frances they would put all available resources into finding Noah quickly, starting with a painstaking search of the school and its grounds, and then spreading out from there. It was the only thing that kept Frances in Great Paxford.

They said there was nothing to be gained from travelling up to Warrington, where the school was based. It would only make Frances more anxious. It was far better that she remain at home in case Noah turned up, which was the most likely scenario. They told her to stay near the telephone and wait for news and not to worry. They didn’t tell her not to feel terrible guilt for the whole affair. If they had it would have been futile.

If you hadn’t sent him away—

She stopped that train of thought mid-sentence. There was nothing to be gained from returning to a track she had been round many, many times since Noah had left with Claire and Spencer. She had acted in what she believed was the best interests of the child, and in accord with Peter’s wishes.

Frances had been tempted to pour herself a drink to settle her nerves, but a voice in her head told her not to venture down that particular path.

In your current state one drink will lead to another, and you cannot afford to be anything other than in complete control of your faculties.

Sarah asked if Frances wanted to postpone the WI meeting, or would like Sarah to lead it in her stead. Frances considered the option but decided against it.

‘To postpone or send you instead would instantly make the entire meeting about me, when it shouldn’t be. In the weeks and months following Peter’s death I stayed away because I couldn’t bear to see anyone, I just couldn’t. And I think the women understood that.’

‘They’d understand this,’ said Sarah.

‘Perhaps they would.’

‘I’m certain of it.’

‘Nevertheless, I don’t want to send out the signal that the WI isn’t somewhere they can go when they have serious events happening in their lives. On the contrary, it should be one of the very few places they can go to when they may be at their most troubled. Didn’t Miriam receive tremendous support when David was missing? Haven’t you, since Adam was taken prisoner? Erica and Will since they lost their home? Without the great kindness I received from the members, I don’t know how I would have survived the terrible aftermath of Peter’s death.’

‘The support from the branch has been invaluable.’

‘These trekkers fleeing into the countryside from nightly bombing challenge our sense of charity both individually and as a community. We need to take the situation in hand before it spirals out of control. Lord knows the parish council is all but useless, a collection of mediocre men locked in endless deliberation with no visible appetite for ever actually doing anything. No, Sarah. I need to be at the meeting. The members expect it, and will be unnerved to see me absent so soon after my return to the Chair. If I stay here I shall go mad pacing the floor. I’ve asked Claire to stay at the house in the event the police or Noah’s headmaster should telephone. I’m only minutes away.’

Frances understood that one of the defining qualities of true leadership is the need to be visible and available, even when there are more pressing