Free Whispers of Love by Rosie Harris Page B

around in his pockets for his cigarettes and held out the packet to her. When she shook her head he selected one and lighted it. ‘So do you want to tell me what it is I’ve done wrong?’ he asked as he exhaled a cloud of smoke.
    He listened in silence as, hesitantly, she told him about how her fiancé had been drowned at sea only a short time before they were due to be married.
    She gave only the briefest of details and said nothing at all about the baby she had given upfor adoption; that was still something that filled her with such remorse that it was too raw to talk about to anyone other than Lewis.
    When she’d finished, he dropped the remains of his cigarette on the pavement and ground it out with his heel, then he put his arm round her waist and drew her close.
    â€˜There’s a war on, Christabel,’ he said softly, pushing her hair back from her face with his free hand and kissing her on the brow. ‘It must have been a dreadful ordeal, but you can’t go on living in the past for ever. You can’t plan for the future, either, because there may not be one, so why not live for the moment? Why not let us enjoy the pleasure of each other’s company while we can?’

Chapter Eight
    Christabel smiled to herself as she read the note that had been handed to her by the army orderly. It was from Dennis to say that he was starting a week’s leave on New Year’s Eve and asking if he could he meet her.
    The nurses at Hilbury had drawn lots to decide which of them should have time off over Christmas and who would wait until New Year. Christabel had been disappointed when she’d found that, once again, she would not be sitting down with her own family for the ritual meal of turkey and plum pudding. Christmas had always been so much more festive in their home than the New Year celebrations.
    She’d consoled herself with the thought that Christmas 1915 wouldn’t be the same at home this year because although Lilian would be there Lewis would be absent.
    It had come as a shock to all of them that he’d been called up for service and had opted for the Navy. After he’d finished his training at Portsmouth he’d been posted to the
SS Kilbraid
and was now somewhere at sea.
    Christmas at Hilbury Hospital had been more enjoyable than she had envisaged it would be.They had made decorations to hang in the wards by cutting up wrapping paper and discarded document slips into narrow strips to make paper chains.
    They had put up sprigs of holly and mistletoe and decked out a fir tree with baubles made from cardboard and cotton wool. At the very top, they had pinned a huge star cut from a piece of metal which they’d polished until it shone like silver.
    Now that she had the added bonus of knowing she would be celebrating New Year with Dennis, she tried to decide whether she should take him home and perhaps even invite him to spend some of his leave with her family.
    She’d only been home twice since the debacle with Karl Blume and she wondered if her father still regarded her as ‘brave’ and Dennis as something of a hero. Or, more important still, whether her mother’s invitation to Dennis to come and see them again still held good.
    She had seen Dennis several times since then, but only very briefly, and always in the company of other people. Remembering the night he had wanted them to spend together brought her out in a cold sweat. Whenever she thought about it, recalling how disappointed he’d been by her refusal, she wondered if it would be better if she had nothing more to do with him or, for that matter, with any man.
    Peggy was the only one she could confide in and she’d been surprised that Christabel hadturned him down. ‘Others have affairs,’ she pointed out defiantly.
    â€˜Think of the risks, though. Supposing I became pregnant,’ Christabel muttered.
    â€˜You wouldn’t if you took precautions,’ Peggy mused