The Leonard Girls by Deborah Challinor

Author:Deborah Challinor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-03-08T00:00:00+00:00

Part Three

Chapter Eight

September 1969, South Vietnam

By mid-September Rowie had had five dates with Ian Fraser. No, he wasn’t married. She asked him and had no reason not to believe him. He would come over to the hospital whenever he got the time, and when her schedule meant she could fit in a visit from him, which didn’t give them many opportunities as they were both frequently on call beyond their extensive duty rosters. And when they did manage time together there was rarely anywhere private to go. There was the beach but it was too public by day and patrolled at night (how romantic, a soldier pointing a rifle at you and demanding ‘Who’s that?’), or the pink Citroen, but Rowie didn’t feel she could borrow that because it was for the use of all the nurses, not just one who wanted private time with a bloke, or the Land Rover Ian usually drove over from the air base, but that wasn’t exactly suitable, either, and of course the nurses’ quarters were off limits to men. She wasn’t going to break that rule, not with the telling-off she’d got from Matron after the joy ride episode.

So they hadn’t got very far with their intimate manoeuvres. She’d never had sex before and didn’t fancy losing her virginity in the front seat of a dusty, rattly military vehicle parked in the dark round the back of a relocatable morgue. She wanted it to be a little bit more special than that if at all possible. She’d told Ian as much, and he said he understood, but she did wonder how far his patience would stretch in a town where a man could walk into any number of bars and purchase a girl for next to nothing. Ian said he didn’t want a skinny little Vietnamese prostitute who couldn’t speak English and was only interested in selling herself to help pay her family’s bills, but Rowie thought it would be an easy thing to do, to hand over a few US dollars or Vietnamese dong and forget about things for half an hour.

But they enjoyed the time they did have, even if a lot of it was hot and sweaty and somewhat frustrating, and Rowie knew they’d be together properly one day soon. She’d promised Ian that, and promised herself, too.

At lunch in the mess one day, Donna sat down with her tray and said, ‘How’s lover boy? Going well, is it?’

Rowie said, ‘Ah . . .’

Unloading her plate, cutlery and glass of cordial and putting the tray aside on a spare chair, Donna said, ‘Didn’t take my advice, did you?’

‘Not really.’

‘So, is he leaving his wife for you?’

‘He’s not married.’

‘His girlfriend back home, then?’

‘I don’t know if he’s got one.’ Rowie didn’t, either. She’d never asked that particular question and Ian certainly hadn’t mentioned a girlfriend. But then, she supposed he probably wouldn’t if he was two-timing her. ‘Why are you being so mean?’

‘Am I?’ Donna cut up a piece of ham, looked at it for a while on the end of her fork, then put it in her mouth.

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