Disclaimer I do not own Wish me Luck. ITV own all rights as do the original writers. No copyright infringement is intended nor should be inferred
1.
Liz felt herself shake as the memories of that fateful day hit her. She was not a young woman anymore, Nazi Europe and her older brother being shot down in an air battle almost felt as if they had happened to someone else. Yet here she was sat in the kitchen, holding a mug of tea as her great granddaughter questioned her about the War.
"Is this for school?"
"History."
"Well, it's good to know I am a part of history." She sipped her tea; aware the young girl was waiting. "Has your father asked you to ask me these questions?"
"Daddy said you and Grandpa were War Heroes." The little girl watched as the old woman shook her head and smiled. She knew her son and and granddaughter were proud of her and Kit but how could she talk to a child about the War? About all she had seen and done?"
"Nanna? Dad said you met Grandpa in the War. Is that right?"
"Yes!" The young girl rested her head on her hands. Liz smiled, the gesture of the ten year old so familiar. Listening intently it was clear the child did not want to know about the technicalities of War and espionage - rather the love story that had kept her and her husband a live. The hope that even when evil was everywhere they would be together.
"Was he very handsome?" Liz blushed, thinking of the old man in his prime. She knew he would protest. He had never been one to accept praise.
"Yes. Yes. I was quite taken with him. Kit knew my brother. He saw me as a pain in the bum as you'd say. He didn't think women should be in the forces, never mind doing what I was doing."
The young child widened her eyes. The 98 year old man was now thin and frail but still sharp of mind. She had always been encouraged by him - told her that girls could do anything. The idea he had once thought differently bothered her.
"It was a different time my darling. Women and men tended to stick to roles they had always had. I wanted to help. My brother had died. I was angry and wasn't prepared to stay home and just let the War go on around me. So, I applied to join the SOE. Actually, I'm not sure what I can tell you." The old woman looked seriously at the child. "Have you signed the Act?"
"The what?" Eyes widened she had no idea what her great grandmother was talking about.
"The Official Secrets Act. It's very important." She watched her granddaughter enter the kitchen. "Nikki? Have you not told this girl about my work in the War? Stephanie, what had your mother told you?"
Nikki smiled at the old woman. "Nanna. I only told her that you and Poppa were in the War. That you both fell in love while you were fighting Hitler. They are studying the Second World War at school. But it's all facts and figures. None of it related to the people who were there. Steph, did you know Nanna was married once before Grandpa? His first wife and children died in the Blitz? I want her to see that it was a time where people were living in extraordinary times. You are a hero and should be recognised as one."
Liz narrowed her eyes. "It was a time that I wish I could change. I wish so much that Chamberlain and the other politicians had stopped the War before it started. The only good thing I found in that time was love. And friendship."
Stephanie smiled, completely in awe of the pensioner. "I can't talk about much of it."
"Because of the Act?" The child watched as she nodded.
"Also because it makes me sad, angry and it is so long ago." She tapped the young girl's hand. "It is not really the ideal thing for a young lady like you to hear."
Nikki poured her own tea as she watched the exchange. "Oh Nanna! Tell her of how you met Grandpa? Of Le Crest and Renaud. Every young girl needs to know that love can survive anything if it is strong enough. You saved Grandpa. You saved him from a Nazi firing squad! Risked your own life for him."
"Wow!" The young girl snapped her attention back to the old woman.
"I loved him. If he wasn't to be in the world I did not want to be. I had lost my darling brother; had just found out my daughter and ex husband had died in a bombing raid. What was I to do? I had no choice." She watched as her elderly husband walked in to the kitchen, supporting himself on two walking sticks. He smiled, his eyes still lighting up when he saw her.
"How are my three favourite ladies?"
"Kit." Liz wanted to stand but the 97 year old waved a hand away.
"I'm fine. Just need my legs to get the message. What are you talking about?" He sat opposite his wife. "Elizabeth?"
"The War." Liz sighed as he took her hand.
"No, Papa." Nikki corrected her. "We were asking about the love story behind it. About you and Nanna in occupied France."
"Ah." The old man smiled slightly, holding Liz's gaze. "Do you wonder why we returned to France? In 1946?"
"Sometimes."
"It is the place not where we met or fell in love but rather where our love story was saved. And it is such a story." He smiled. Liz raised an eyebrow.
"Ok, Romeo you tell it." She squeezed his hand. "You always did have a way with words."
Xxxxxxx
A/N next chapter set in the 1940s. Should I go on? WML was my favourite TV programme as a young girl. Hope people remember it.