Free Broken Rainbows by Catrin Collier

paperwork.’
    â€˜They make civilians do that too?’ His tone was dry, but there was a spark of humour in his eyes that she hadn’t noticed when they’d spoken earlier.
    She held up her cup. ‘Would you like some cocoa?’
    He pulled a tin from his pocket. ‘I’ve brought my own coffee.’
    â€˜The water’s hot but not boiling.’ Returning to the stove, she set the kettle back on the hob.
    â€˜I don’t want to keep you up.’
    â€˜You’re not.’ She pushed Andrew’s letter into her pocket, but not before he saw it.
    â€˜From your husband?’
    â€˜Yes.’
    He handed her his tin as she took another cup from the shelf. ‘He’s a lucky man.’
    â€˜To be in a German prison camp?’
    â€˜To be alive and have you and your children to come home to.’
    â€˜It would be nice to know when that’s likely to be.’
    â€˜As long as it takes us to get organised, over there and destroy the German army.’
    â€˜My father thinks that they are going to take some beating, even with Russian and American help.’
    â€˜Your father is right.’
    â€˜I’m sorry, I’m forgetting my manners. Please, sit down.’
    Leaving her the rocking chair, he sat on the end of one of the benches placed either side of the scrub-down table.
    â€˜I don’t want to get your hopes up, Mrs John, but have you considered that your husband could be home before the end of the war? There are prisoner exchanges and there’s always the chance of escape.’
    â€˜Not for Andrew. He’s a doctor, and from what little in the way of details the censor allows through in his letters, I think the only one in his camp.’
    â€˜And he wouldn’t leave the men unattended?’
    â€˜He has a strong sense of duty.’ She tried to make it sound like a compliment. ‘When he drew the short straw at Dunkirk a medical officer who wasn’t married offered to take his place. Andrew wouldn’t hear of it. He stayed with the wounded in a field hospital. I didn’t know for three months whether he’d been captured, wounded or killed.’
    â€˜Then it must be a relief to know he’s safe now.’
    â€˜Safe? With the RAF dropping bombs all over Germany? Surrounded by armed guards who might shoot him at any moment … I’m sorry.’ She picked up the kettle and poured water on to the coffee essence. ‘I’m not usually like this. It’s been a long day. Would you like milk and sugar?’
    â€˜Milk please, if you can spare it.’
    Taking the jug from the pantry she ventured a personal question. ‘Are you married, Colonel Ford?’
    â€˜I was.’
    â€˜I’m sorry.’
    â€˜I didn’t lose my wife in the funeral sense. She divorced me.’
    Bethan stared at the cup not quite knowing what to say.
    â€˜By the time the papers came through it was no longer a catastrophe for either of us. I hope I haven’t shocked you. I’ve heard that divorce is more common in the States than here.’
    â€˜Not many women in Pontypridd can afford to leave their husbands.’
    â€˜My wife had independent means.’
    â€˜Do you have any children?’
    â€˜A son. He’s sixteen now. You want the war to end so your husband can come home; I want it to end so Elliot won’t have to fight.’
    â€˜Surely it can’t last another two years?’
    â€˜Let’s hope not, Nurse John.’ He lifted his cup. ‘To victory.’
    â€˜A quick victory,’ she echoed, her imagination painting a future as bleak and lonely as the years that lay behind her.
    â€˜I could come in with you.’
    â€˜Civilians aren’t allowed into military billets.’
    â€˜But …’
    â€˜I can’t allow you, Miss Llewellyn-Jones.’ Kurt’s voice was firm. ‘And what goes for civilians goes double for pretty girls,’ he