Free Beauty Chorus, The by Kate Lord Brown

turning up one Christmas when I was about ten. This slim, elegant woman stepped
out, holding the loveliest doll you’ve ever seen. It had a beautiful china face and dark wavy hair like mine.’ Evie stretched and walked to the window. ‘I knew it was Ingrid, my
real mother, immediately. I ran out to her through the snow, and she leant down and held me so tight …’ She hung her head. ‘Then Daddy and Virginia appeared. He was thrilled
– I don’t think he’s ever really gotten over losing her – but Virginia flew into a rage. They had just become engaged and I think she thought Mummy was there to try and put
a stop to it.’ Evie pulled aside the blackout curtain and traced a circle in the frozen condensation on the window. ‘That night, when Nanny came in to tuck me up after my bath, the doll
was lying on my bed. I was so excited to show her what Mummy had given me, I grabbed it, and ran towards her. I tripped on the rug, and dropped it. When I turned it over, the face was smashed
in.’ Evie hesitated, her fingertip resting against the cold glass. ‘I ran to Virginia, begged her to help me mend the doll before Daddy saw. She refused. She said, “Let that be a
lesson to you to look after your things”. Daddy was furious with me.’ Evie’s voice grew quiet. ‘I never understood why. He was in such a rage. When Nanny stood up for me,
tried to explain it was an accident, Virginia managed to convince Daddy she was a bad influence on me. She had her sacked.’
    ‘Over a doll?’ Stella said.
    ‘She said she was insubordinate. I think she’d just been waiting for her chance,’ Evie bit her lip. ‘With Nanny gone, I was packed off to boarding school. It’s what
Virginia had wanted all along. She had Daddy to herself, and I never saw my mother again.’
    The sound of blubbing from the doorway interrupted her story. ‘Oh, you poor thing. I miss my ma too,’ Megan said as she sobbed.
    ‘Good grief, look at the state of us.’ Stella laughed, wiping her eyes. ‘Come on, why don’t we all bunk down in here for the night? The bed’s huge and this place is
ruddy freezing.’
    The girls clambered in together, piling all the bedding in the house on top of them. Megan fell asleep within minutes, and Evie felt the steady rise and fall of her back against her arm.
    ‘I still can’t feel my toes,’ Stella whispered.
    ‘Neither can I.’ Evie stared up at the dark ceiling. ‘I’m not sure I can hack this place. It can’t get any worse than this, can it?’
    Stella yawned as she rolled over to face Evie. ‘We’ll be fine. We’ve got each other now.’
    ‘The Three Musketeers?’ Evie laughed quietly.
    ‘All for one …’ Stella said sleepily. ‘You know what the boys call the female pilots, don’t you? The beauty chorus.’
    ‘Cheeky devils,’ Evie murmured, her eyes drooping as sleep embraced her. ‘Just you wait. We’ll show them what we can do.’

 
    6
    It was still dark when they left the cottage, the windows of the car misty with their breath. Evie rubbed wearily at her eyes. She had slept badly since moving in, and this
morning had woken early after fitful dreams of her mother. She wondered if Ingrid missed her, as Stella missed her child. She glanced vaguely at Megan as she chattered excitedly in the passenger
seat about the car, her first trip to London, their new uniforms.
    Stella was curled up on the back seat, watching the hazy landscape appear in the dawn light. She had not been back to London since her night in the shelter, and she thought uneasily of the
orphaned baby, wondering whether he was alive still. As country roads gave way to gloomy city streets she sensed the brooding, turbulent energy of the capital.
    Evie swung the Aston confidently along back routes parallel to Regent Street and they parked a couple of streets from the tailors. As they walked past bombed-out buildings, empty playgrounds,
Stella’s palms were damp, her breath shallow. Her vision blurred, and