A Step In Time: A feel-good read, perfect for fans of Strictly Come Dancing!. Kerry Barrett

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ dashed into the tent and let the heavy canvas door drop behind me. It was dark in there and it took a while for my eyes to adjust.

      ‘Donnie,’ I whispered. ‘Donnie, are you in here?’

      There was a noise from the back of the tent, so I carefully picked my way towards the far end. The tent was full of bags of uniforms, piles of boots, sandbags – anything and everything. And at the back, sitting on a pile of scratchy grey blankets, was Donnie. He was holding a letter and crying, and when he saw me he turned his face away so I wouldn’t see his tears.

      My heart ached for him so much I felt his pain like it was my own. I sat down next to him and gathered him into my arms and he cried and cried onto my neck.

      ‘What is it?’ I whispered, kissing his tears away. ‘What’s happened?’

      Donnie gave a sort of hiccupping sob.

      ‘Gene,’ he said.

      I knew who Gene was. He’d been Donnie’s best friend since they started school. They’d gone all the way through school together but joined up separately – Gene into the navy and Donnie the army. Donnie talked about him a lot and had told me how much he wanted us to like each other. Now my stomach twisted with sadness.

      ‘Is he …?’

      Donnie wiped his face with the heel of his hand and handed me the letter.

      ‘Torpedo,’ he said. ‘The ship sank. No survivors.’

      I scanned the letter – it was from Donnie’s mum and broke the bad news in such a sweet, sad way that I felt tears pricking my eyelids, too.

      ‘Oh, darling,’ I said, pulling him closer to me. ‘What a sad, sad loss.’

      ‘This damn war,’ Donnie said. ‘You know, sometimes I don’t even know why we’re fighting.’

      I didn’t know what to say. I’d been a schoolgirl when war broke out, and it was so much a part of my life that I couldn’t remember what it was like before. But I was lucky. I had no brothers to lose, and my dad, who’d seen action in the Great War, had passed away before war broke out this time.

      Donnie was crying again.

      ‘I just want it to be over,’ he said. ‘I just want it to end.’

      ‘I know,’ I said, kissing him again.

      ‘I don’t want to go to France,’ Donnie said. ‘It’s awful there. It’s really, really awful. I’m scared, Cora.’

      Now I was crying, too.

      ‘Oh, my darling, darling boy,’ I said. ‘I’m scared, too. I’m so scared. But we’ve got this time together. We need to make the most of it.’

      Donnie nodded.

      ‘And when you’re in France, I want you to think about me all the time,’ I said, kissing his face all over. ‘I want you to think about the hours we’ve spent together, and the way you make me laugh more than anyone else, and the way you make me happier than anyone else ever has.’

      Donnie kissed me deeply and I shivered in pleasure.

      ‘And the way your kisses turn my legs to jelly,’ I said weakly.

      I began unbuttoning his shirt. Donnie stopped my hand with his and looked at me.

      ‘Are you sure?’ he said.

      ‘Anything can happen,’ I said, hearing my voice tremble a little bit. ‘Gene thought he had his whole life ahead of him and he didn’t. There are bombs dropping, and guns, and all sorts of horrible things. Anything can happen to anyone and I don’t want to regret not doing something when I had the chance.’

      Afterwards we lay curled up together, under one of the scratchy blankets.

      ‘No regrets?’ Donnie said to me, his face close to mine.

      ‘Never,’ I said. ‘I will never regret today as long as I live.’

      A shout from outside made us jump and I suddenly remembered where we were and what a risk we were taking.

      ‘I have to go,’ I said, kissing Donnie and then wriggling out from under the blanket. ‘Audrey will cover for me, but she can’t keep pretending I’m in the privy.’

      I pulled on my skirt and buttoned up my shirt, while Donnie watched me, smiling.

      ‘What?’ I said.

      ‘You’re beautiful.’

      I threw my hat at him, then had to retrieve it.

      ‘You soppy old so-and-so,’ I laughed.

      ‘I love you,’ he said.

      I blew him a kiss.

      ‘I love you, too,’ I said.

      For the next three days we met up in the tent whenever we could. We couldn’t get enough of each other. I wanted the smell of Donnie on my skin, the feel of his breath on my face. I just wanted to be near him all the time.

      I knew that emotions were heightened because of the war, and that in peacetime our romance probably would have taken months, or even years, to get to this stage, but I didn’t care. Gene’s death had shown us how important it was to live in the moment and to make the most of every single day.

      Our unit was going to London after Christmas – we had a six-month stint entertaining troops in the capital and I was looking forward to settling in one place for a while. But Donnie knew he’d be leaving for France soon. I tried not to think about how he’d be forced to live. The things he’d see and do. The danger he’d be in.

      As Audrey and I were packing up our costumes and getting ready to hit the road, Donnie came to find me.

      ‘I have some good news,’ he said, grinning widely.

      ‘The war’s over?’ Audrey said, putting a feathery headdress into a box.

      Donnie chuckled.

      ‘Not that good,’ he admitted. ‘But good for me. We’re going to be in London for a couple of nights before we leave for France in the spring.’

      I was delighted.

      ‘Really?’ I said, throwing my arms round him. ‘So we can meet?’

      Donnie looked down at me and kissed the end of my nose.

      ‘Oh, better than that,’ he said. ‘I thought we could get married.’

       Chapter Ten

      I was having fun. Lots of fun, actually, much to my surprise. It was my first day on Strictly Stars Dancing and so far it had been brilliant.

      I’d СКАЧАТЬ