Yours Cheerfully by AJ Pearce

Author:AJ Pearce
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scribner
Published: 2021-08-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16 MISS LAKE, IS IT MY FAULT?

I was glad to have the taxi ride home to gather my thoughts, and I sat quietly, replaying the evening and everything Charles had said. No one in their right mind would want the person they loved to tell them they wanted to go off to fight, but as we drove through the dark streets towards Pimlico, odd though it may have sounded, I understood what he meant.

The simple fact was that Charles was an army man and had been for years prior to meeting me. He hadn’t been conscripted, he hadn’t volunteered, and he had always known that if a second war came, it was his job to go. As much as it made me shudder to think of him going into danger, it had been my choice to love him and agree to be his wife. It was up to me to have the strength of character to live this way.

I asked the taxi driver to stop a couple of streets away from the house so that I could have a few more moments to think. I dug my chin into my scarf and used my dull little torch to help find my way home.

“Right, then,” I said to myself. Along with hundreds of thousands of other women all over the world, I would have to get on with it. I felt a renewed surge of what was already engrained hostility towards the enemy. “We’ll have you for breakfast,” I muttered.

When I got back to the house, Bunty was still up and eager to hear how my romantic evening had gone. It must have been quite a surprise when I marched into the house with a look of fierce resolve on my face, rather than a dreamy smile.

“It might be ages before he’s sent somewhere,” I said, leaning on the banister at the foot of the stairs as we talked. “And that could have happened at any time, anyway. We just need to hurry up and win.”

“I’ll say,” said Bunty firmly, as if the two of us were about to sort it all out by ourselves. “First things first, we’d better crack on with the plans for your wedding. Can’t have Charles sloping off before he’s become the luckiest man in the world.”

“I’ll have his guts for garters if he does,” I said, not remotely worried.

Bunty grinned and suggested we have a full operational update over breakfast.

As the bongs of the hallway’s grandfather clock suggested it was time to call it a day, we headed upstairs to our rooms. When we got to the landing, Bunty gave me a hug.

“Night, Em. If you need me, you will just call, won’t you?”

“Thanks, Bunts,” I said. “Honestly, I really am fine.”

From that night on, determination would become the heart of everything I wanted to do. I would marry Charles, I would know that he was going to be safe, and I would get on with everything back here in London, so that when he returned, we would properly start our life together.

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