Free Brides of War by June Tate Page A

but then he gave a smile of satisfaction. It wasn’t all bad. Since they’d moved, his sex life had vastly improved. Without his parents in the next room, Gracie hadn’t felt inhibited in bed, so it had its compensations.
     
    Having cleaned the apartment, Gracie set about painting the walls in the living room. She moved all the furniture into the middle of the room and started. She was pleased to have something to fill her days now that they’d moved into their own place as it stemmed the feelings of homesickness, which sometimes overwhelmed her. She missed familiar surroundings, her friends and family. Things were so different here and it was taking her some time to adjust. Yes, she was happy with her husband and her marriage, but most of all she missed the camaraderie of her friends. Hereshe hadn’t any and she wondered how she was going to fill her time when the decorating was done.
    Three days later, the living room was finished. Gracie looked around and decided to rearrange the furniture. With much pushing and shoving, she eventually stood back to admire the new look and decided it was a great improvement. She quickly ran a bath and washed the paint out of her hair, then changed into clean clothes and started to prepare the dinner, excitedly wondering what Jeff’s reaction would be when he walked in that evening. But she was disappointed.
    Jeff walked in to the apartment, went straight to the fridge, took out a can of beer, opened it, flopped onto the settee, kicked his shoes off and let out a deep sigh.
    ‘I’m bushed. What’s for dinner?’
    Gracie just stood and stared at him, speechless. After working so hard, Jeff’s lack of appreciation was just too much.
    ‘What?’ he looked puzzled. ‘Why are you looking at me that way?’
    She could feel the anger slowly rising within her. ‘Perhaps when you’ve had your fill of beer, you might take a minute to look at your surroundings!’ she snapped.
    He did so, but it took several minutes before it registered with him. ‘You’ve moved the furniture round.’
    She placed her hands on her hips. ‘And?’
    ‘For Christ’s sake Gracie, I’m far too tired for twenty questions.’
    ‘You’re bloody tired! I’ve been painting all day and cooked a meal, but obviously I need not have bothered. You wouldn’t care what the place was like as long as there is a meal on the table!’ She stormed off into the kitchen.
    Jeff then took a closer look. ‘Looks great,’ he called. She didn’t reply.
    He slowly got to his feet. Women! He thought. Then he walked into the kitchen and standing behind Gracie put his arms around her, encircling her breast as he did so.
    She shook his hold off. ‘You stink of beer! Sit down, it’s time to eat.’
    The atmosphere was decidedly cool as they both ate in silence until Jeff spoke up.
    ‘I’m sorry honey. I know how hard you’ve been working on fixing the place up, but I’ve had a hell of a day and didn’t notice, but the room looks lovely, honestly.’
    She wasn’t that easily mollified and didn’t reply and, when the meal was finished, she took the dirty dishes into the kitchen, closed the door and washed up with tears of frustration trickling down her cheeks. Later in bed, when Jeff put his arm round her, she stiffened like a board until he turned away from her.
     
    The following day, she started on the bedroom, and as lunchtime drew nearer she felt really hungry but didn’t feel like preparing something to eat, so she walked down the road to the diner and ordered ham and eggs … sunny side up. She was learning.
    As she tucked into her meal, a voice made her look up.
    ‘Hi there Gracie! All alone?’ Rick settled himself opposite her, grinning broadly.
    ‘Oh Rick. Hello, I didn’t see you come in.’
    ‘You were too busy tucking into your food. What are you doing eating here?’
    ‘I’ve been painting the bedroom and was too tired to cook, so here I am.’
    He reached out and touched her hair. ‘You’ve got