War Girls Complete Collection Chapter 331

Chapter 50: Tom

London, June 1948

E

xactly one year after their wedding ceremony, Tom’s beautiful wife had given birth to a baby boy. They’d named him Thomas after his father, in the hopes his parents would reconcile with the fact that he’d married a German woman.

He’d visited them twice in the past year when he’d been on overnight missions to Northolt. His mother, though, remained adamant that she didn’t want to know anything of his “other family” as she liked to call Ursula and their children. She wouldn’t even let him rave about Evie.

As the tensions in Berlin between the former ally Stalin and the Western victorious powers ratcheted up, Tom decided it was high time his parents came to terms with their daughter-in-law. If the Cold War escalated, the British might have to evacuate Berlin and he and his mates might be sent home to England. If that happened, he wanted to know Ursula had a family she could count on; otherwise she’d be alone in a foreign country.

The birth of little Thomas was the perfect reason to coerce his parents into finally getting to know Ursula and Evie.

“What will your parents say?” Ursula asked once more as the cab drove them from the base airport to his parents’ estate.

“Well, they weren’t at all happy when I told them we wanted to come to visit. But the fact that they agreed is a good sign.” He banked on his mother going soft over her two grandchildren the way all grandmothers in the world did. “Mother is eager to get to know her grandchildren.”

“What if she doesn’t like them?”

“Don’t worry,” Tom told her, reaching across to take her hand. “Who could resist our children? Thomas is such a cute baby and as for Evie, you’ll see my parents won’t have a prayer.”

Ursula looked at their daughter. Evie was full of questions about anything and everything. She had adapted well to life as a family and adored her baby brother. But his family suffered from the cold treatment the English wives living on the base gave them.

Despite finally being Mrs. Westlake, Ursula’s life definitely wasn’t full of roses – and he felt guilty for it. As the cab took the long way to the Westlake estate Tom worried about Ursula’s fear about the upcoming meeting with his parents.

“They will come around, eventually,” he said after another gaze at her tense facial expression. He faked a confidence he didn’t possess. His mother held rigid opinions. The car drove up to his parents’ house and he helped Ursula with the baby in her arms, while Evie jumped from the car all by herself. She’d been cooped up on first a plane, and then a car, and needed some time to stretch her legs.

“Tom?” He heard his mother’s voice coming from the front doors.

He waved saying, “Hello, Mother.” He reached for Ursula’s hand and walked toward his parents. “Mother. Sir. I’d like to introduce you to Ursula, my wife. And this is Thomas, your grandson.”

His mother’s lips broke into a smile at the sight of her grandson and she murmured, “Isn’t he a precious little darling.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Westlake,” Ursula said.

Ursula’s English had improved in the last year while living on the military base, but she still had that godawful German accent that betrayed her with every word. Evie, though, who had turned four this month, spoke English like a native and even corrected her mother at times.

“Yes, well… come inside.” His mother started to turn her back but then Evie poked her head out from behind Tom’s knees.

“Oh, you must be Eveline?” Mrs. Westlake glanced at her son and asked, “Does she at least speak English?”

Evie giggled and made something that looked like a curtsy, “Yes, Grandmother, my dad speaks only English with me. My mother, she manages the language too, but sometimes she makes mistakes.”

Tom saw that his mother had to struggle not to laugh. Evie really was a precocious little girl. In this instant he knew that no matter how much of a fuss Mother and Father might put up, they wouldn’t be able to resist the little sprite of a girl.

“We call her Evie.” Tom looked down and watched Evie charm his mother with her impish smile and bright-eyed wonder.

There was a pause and then Tom’s mother smiled. “Do you like sweets?”

“I love sweets. But my mother says it’s not good for my teeth.”

“Well,” Tom’s mother cast a glance at her daughter-in-law and smiled, “Don’t tell your mother, but in my house, you’re allowed to eat sweets. Do you want to come with me into the kitchen?”

Evie jumped with joy and Tom whispered into Ursula’s ear, “See, I told you.”

Over the next days, his mother completely fell in love with Evie and Thomas. She even softened up to Ursula, who did her best to impress a positive image on her.

“How do you like living on the base?” his mother asked.

Tom had a moment of worry that Ursula would start complaining, but instead, she smiled and talked about how nice the accommodations were and how pleasant the other women were. Which they were, to each other. Not to Ursula, though, and neither to Evie.

But rather than disparage them, Ursula actually found a way to speak kindly about them to his parents, and for that, he loved her even more.

When his mother offered to take a stroll through the gardens with Ursula, Tom smiled, confident the women in his life would learn to like each other.

His father approached him as the women left the room. “I’m still not convinced that you wouldn’t have fared better with an Englishwoman, but as it is… it’s plain to see that you love her, and she loves you. And your Evie is such a well-behaved child, she’ll blend in perfectly.”

“Thanks, Dad. That means a lot. About…” Tom wanted to sound out whether his father was open to the idea of supporting Ursula and their children if anything awful happened in Berlin.

His father though had already noticed that something was wrong and said, “Now that we’re alone, tell me what is really going on with Ursula and the other women. Your mother may have bought that drivel she was spouting but the smile on her lips never reached her eyes.”

Tom lost his bravado and he shook his head. “They hate her. Because she’s German.”

Just like you did.

“They won’t talk to her. They don’t include Evie in any of the activities. I’m gone so much that she’s alone most of the time. They don’t even give her a chance to get to know her…”

His father frowned. “I’m afraid we did the same and I’m not very proud of that. But maybe it’s time to leave the hurts of the past behind and start a better future. A future of understanding, if not between our nations as a whole, then at least on a personal level.” He paused and looked at his son. “I haven’t talked to your mother about this. But both of us wish to be closer to our grandchildren. And if your wife agrees, she and the children are welcome to stay with us.”

“You would do that?” Tom almost toppled over at his father’s words. Not in his wildest dreams had he imagined his father would offer that.

“Don’t look so surprised. I’m sure you came here counting on the charms of your offspring to wrap your mother around their little fingers. It worked. Evie has not only your mother, but also me and Teresa, under her spell. And baby Thomas…what woman can resist a baby drooling saliva all over her?”

“Indeed, I wanted to mend the rift. I thought when you found out just how happy Ursula makes me, you’d give her a chance.”

“So will you ask her? She can live in the guest house so she has her own space. And you’ve been flying in and out enough that you might ask to spend your leave days over here instead of in Berlin.”

“Thank you for the generous offer. I’ll speak with her about it…”

“Speak with whom about what?” his mother asked, stepping back into the library.

Tom hid his smirk, as his mother’s question had been far from the proper behavior of an Englishwoman. “I was sharing with father how difficult living on base is for Ursula and the children. He suggested they stay here in the guest house.”

She sent her husband a scolding stare, but Tom knew his mother well enough to know that she was trying to keep up appearances. In fact, both of her grandchildren and even Ursula had won over her heart during the past days.

The discussion was tabled for the moment, but several days later, Tom found an unexpected ally in the least probable person alive: Josef Stalin.

He received a telephone call from the base in Northolt that his leave had been canceled and he was to return to Berlin immediately. The day before, Stalin had ordered electricity cut off to the Western part of Berlin. Furthermore, all land and water connections for transporting goods and persons between Berlin and the Western sectors were severed.

General Lucius D. Clay, in charge of the U.S. Occupation Zone in Germany, had come to an agreement with his British counterpart General Sir Brian Robertson. It was a daring undertaking, but they would embark on a joint airlift to provide the people in Berlin with the food, medicine, coal, and petrol required for survival. Every available pilot was ordered to report for duty immediately.

Even Tom’s mother agreed that she could not let Ursula and the children return to a Berlin cut off from the rest of the world – and possibly fall under the Soviet thumb. Thus, it was decided that Ursula would stay with Tom’s parents in England and he would use any time off to visit them.

He just hoped Ursula would have an easier life here with his parents’ connections shielding her from the hate and harassment she’d endured at RAF Gatow.