The Melody Girls: an enthralling Scottish historical romance by Anne Douglas

Author:Anne Douglas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Canelo
Published: 2022-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Thirty-Five

It was January before the Melody Girls went to Germany. Christmas had been suggested for their tour, but Lorna would not give up being with Sam at that time, and George finally made arrangements for travel after Hogmanay. Not a time to see the country at its best, he admitted, but they were not, after all, going for the scenery, and to play for the troops in dreary January might be just what they wanted.

All the same, the girls, on first arriving, confessed to some disappointment. Not with the winter weather, but because they’d thought they’d be in the famous Rhineland and instead found themselves in the industrial north.

‘Well, the whole country is zoned for occupational purposes, you see,’ a woman officer explained. ‘The French are in Baden, the Russians in Saxony, the Americans in the Rhineland and the British in places like Dortmund and Dusseldorf.’ She smiled. ‘But you’ll be given a good time wherever you are, I can promise you!’

Which proved to be the case. Bands for dancing were popular anyway with the troops, both women and men, but bands with girls – well, the male soldiers couldn’t believe their luck. So many good looking girls, all in matching evening dresses, all playing away with such talent and energy, their leader a stunning redhead – what more could anybody want?

‘We’re really going to have to keep a watchful eye,’ Flo remarked to Lorna and George, after the Melody Girls had responded to their welcome with even more enthusiasm than they showed at home. ‘It’s just like I said, the girls are bound to meet guys who’ll be chatting them up and before you know it, we’ll be losing players.’

‘I said the same thing,’ George replied. ‘On the other hand, chatting up falls short of making proposals, eh? And even if things get serious, maybe we can put it to the lassies that we don’t want to be leaving ’em behind when the tour’s over.’

‘I’ll have to have a word,’ Lorna sighed. ‘But they’re having such a good time and playing so well, I don’t want to spoil things.’

‘Let’s see how things go,’ Flo advised. ‘After all, we don’t stay in any place too long. They maybe won’t have time to make relationships.’

‘Don’t bank on it,’ George said with a grin. ‘Some of these guys are fast workers, eh?’

In the event, only two of the girls – Nancy, one of the trumpet players, and Trish, an alto sax player – confessed to Lorna that they’d both met the men of their dreams. Och, she’d no idea! It was love at first sight, so it was, and the young soldiers were just as serious as they were.

‘Now, look, you’ve only just met,’ Lorna told them. ‘You don’t know these chaps and they don’t know you. Things seem different in different surroundings, you know, so go home and see how you feel then.’

The two girls looked at each other, sighed, but said nothing.

‘You probably wouldn’t be allowed to stay here, anyway,’ Lorna went on.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.