“As I said, I predict great adventures for you.”

Sadie liked hearing the words, and she wanted to believe them even as her thoughts turned back to the girl at the hospital. For her, there was no getting out of Bluestone.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

OLIVIA

Thursday, March 5, 1942

The Woodmont Estate

“I want to learn how to drive,” Olivia said from the back seat.

It had been two days since Olivia and Sadie had visited the hospital, and Olivia could still not shake the memory of the wailing woman being dragged inside. Edward had asked her to trust him, and of course she did, but as they now approached Woodmont she realized she needed more independence from him at this place.

“We’ve been through this. I could lose my job,” Sadie said.

“I know. And I appreciate your concern, but I’ll not tell Edward. I know he wouldn’t approve. He’s quite protective. I would hope in the last few weeks that I have gained your trust.”

“I trust you just fine,” she said. “But if someone sees us, then it will get back to Dr. Carter.”

“I feel helpless,” she said. “I’m as trapped in my house as I was in that rubble.”

“What are you talking about? It’s the biggest house I’ve ever seen.”

Olivia smoothed out a wrinkle in her skirt. “It can feel very small. So can this county.”

Sadie could not argue with her on that score. “I don’t know.”

Olivia scooted to the middle of the seat and leaned forward. “My mother says that it’s good for marriages if they have a few tiny secrets. She, for instance, used to go to the movies every Friday with her friend. She never told Father about it because she said details like that bored him. She said the movies made her a better wife.”

“You think driving will make you a better wife?”

“Yes.” She would not feel so trapped or lost or useless. When she had worked at the hospital in London, she had felt alive and excited about each day.

“Don’t you have all those plants and trees coming to the greenhouse soon? Won’t that make you feel better?”

The greenhouse was Edward’s idea of what she needed. And though she was touched by the gesture, she realized now that plants in a greenhouse were more of an excuse to keep her on the property.

“There are times when I feel like that girl we saw at the hospital,” she said.

Sadie frowned. “You aren’t like her.”

“I’m trapped in my life. Please. I’ll never tell Edward.”

Sadie slowed the car and turned into the estate’s driveway, and as Olivia stared down the long dirt entryway, she thought she might cry.

Instead of pressing forward, Sadie stopped the car. As the car idled, she twisted around in her seat. “This is our secret from Dr. Carter?”

“Of course. I won’t breathe a word.”

“What about Mrs. Fritz? She might see.”

“I’ll speak to her.”

“I’m going to be sorry I did this.”

Olivia clapped her hands. “Then you’ll do it!”

“I suppose.” Sadie slowly shook her head and shut off the engine. “It ain’t as easy as it looks. There’s a trick to working the clutch and the accelerator. You don’t get do-overs.”

“Nothing I can’t master.”

“All right, then; get out of the car, and come around.”

Olivia bounded out the back seat as Sadie climbed out from behind the wheel and waited for her to sit. She closed the door and came around to the passenger side and got in.

Olivia smoothed her gloved hands over the steering wheel and felt her heart beating fast, as it had when she had been on the merry-go-round in Piccadilly.

“You’ll find that I’m the best student you’ll ever have met. The doctors at Holy Cross in London said as much. I was on the floor less than two days before I was bandaging wounds.”

“Good. Those three pedals on the floor all have a job.” Sadie explained the purpose of the accelerator, the brake, and then the clutch. Next, she talked about the key, the choke, and the starter. By the time she was finished, Olivia’s brain was spinning.

“Best way to learn is by doing,” Sadie said. “Turn the key, and let’s get this car moving.”

Olivia turned the key, and when the engine roared to life, a tiny nervous giggle bubbled out. She pressed the pedal on the right, and the engine roared. She immediately let off it. “What have I done?”

“Nothing yet. Now for the tricky part,” Sadie said.

Olivia scooted forward in her seat, gripped the steering wheel, and pushed the clutch against the floor. She struggled to move the gear into the first position. Sadie finally laid her hand over Olivia’s and guided it into place.

“Was that the tricky part?” Olivia asked.

“No, ma’am. That would be now. Lift that clutch up slowly, and press on the gas slowly.”

Olivia let the clutch up quickly and pressed on the gas slowly. The car lurched forward and shut off. “What did I do? Did I break it?”

“No, ma’am. It takes practice; that’s all. Let’s go ahead and try it again.”

The second, third, and fourth results were not much better, and with each new failed attempt, Olivia’s face burned hotter and hotter. Edward would call her silly and foolish for having tried.

“You’re doing real well, Miss Olivia.”

“How can I be? We haven’t moved ten feet!”

“The first time I tried to learn on that old truck, it just about hopped all the way to Charlottesville.”

“You were twelve. I’m a grown woman.”

“First time is hard no matter what. You’ll get the hang of it.”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’m not cut out for country living. My mother feared I wouldn’t last.”

“Why would she say such a thing?”

“Because I love the city. I like the theater, the shopping, the restaurants, and all the sounds that come with it.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Because I love Edward. I’m his wife. Besides, London was not safe.”

“You ready to quit, then?” Sadie asked.

There was the challenge in that girl’s voice again. She’d dared her once before right in front of Edward. “I’m not quitting.”

“Looks like it to me.”

She had survived almost nine hours in the rubble, her body pressed so tightly between the debris that she could barely breathe. Water and filth had dripped on her face as more bombs had dropped nearby, shaking the very rubble that trapped her.

Olivia tightened her grip on the wheel and raised her chin. She pulled out the choke and pressed the starter button.

Drawing in a breath, she gently pressed on the accelerator and very slowly let up on the clutch. The gear caught, hopping only a little before the front wheels moved forward.

Olivia looked in shock at Sadie before she grinned broadly. “I did it.”

“You sure did.”

“Why won’t the car go any faster?”

“Because we’re only in slowest gear. We need to shift again.”

“Can’t we stay in first?”