For the Love of Music (Sixty Minute Romance) (10 page)

“I’ve got to go. Speak
tomorrow.” Said Sandy, just before slamming the phone down.

“Yes we will.” Smiled Anne
to herself. It had been quite a day.

Anne had forgotten that
the following day was a Sunday and that she had a rehearsal all afternoon with
the Kovergirls. She also realised that she didn’t know Ed’s mobile number. She
couldn’t call him. This didn’t really matter, because at nine o’clock on the
dot, Ed rang her.

“Hiya sexy. I thought I
would write you another song.” Were his first words to her.

“Only kidding Anne, but I’m
on a bit of a high after last night, so thanks.”

“Hi Ed. I am too. You were
great. I can’t get that song out of my head.” Anne was a bit dumbstruck even
though she had a lot she wanted to say. She told Ed about the afternoon rehearsal
and they agreed that he could sit and listen at the back, as long as he behaved
himself. Ed offered to pick her up.

Anne hadn’t properly
thought through the whole sitting at the back of the hall idea. In the event it
was a major distraction for all five members of the band. Carlos was walking
around trying to listen and kept eyeing up Ed suspiciously. Anne was distracted
because of Ed’s presence, pure and simple. Gail, Kate, Naze and Narinda kept
asking questions and making comments in between songs.

“I’ll go and get a coffee.
I’ll be back in an hour.” Ed could see that his being there was a bad idea.

“Good idea, Thanks.” Said a
slightly Flustered Anne. Ed left quickly and Gail put her guitar down to come
over to Anne.

“Come on. I promise that
we will all play better, if you give us the whole story about you and Ed. You
have got to admit that it is a bit sudden. One minute you are doing him a
favour and then the next moment you bring him in as your latest boyfriend.”
Gail really wanted to know. Carlos walked out in disgust muttering something in
Spanish.

Anne found the story easy
to tell and, as she went through it all,she began to see how much she had
enjoyed getting to know Ed and helping him out with the music. She also
realised that she never ever allowed people to get really close to her. Giorgio
had been a great
‘trophy’
boyfriend, but he had never touched her heart.
The mixture of the music sessions and Ed’s bluntness had let him see inside her
heart from day one. Having satisfied the girls in the band with the five minute
version of how she had fallen in love with Ed, they duly went back to running
through their songs. Anne felt a peace and an ease with her life that she had
never had before. How could a broken and injured man do that to her?

About six o’clock Ed came
back in to the rehearsal room, to find the girls packing up.

“So you are a song writer
Ed?” Gail was first to pounce.

“Well you know, I can
write when I feel inspired.”

“Could I inspire you?”

“Sorry Gail, you missed
your chance.” Ed was smiling. Anne was blushing and Gail went away wishing she
could meet a man of her own who would write her a song.

On the way home Ed and
Anne picked up a takeaway and went back to Anne’s house to enjoy the evening
together. After feeling very old while watching the Antiques Roadshow together
on television, Anne wanted to ask Ed a question that had been troubling her.
But she was extremely embarrassed about asking it. She turned the television
off and put the remote down.

“Eeeeeeddddd?” Anne said
this with an up and down and back up tone to her voice. It was a bit like when
a child has an awkward question to ask a parent and they are not sure of their
reaction, or even if it is right to ask the question. Let alone if it will
upset them or even receive a satisfactory answer.

“I know what you are
thinking Anne.” Said Ed.

“No you don’t, how can
you?” Replied Anne. She decided not to ask after all. It was too difficult.

“I know you better than
you think. Plus it’s one of the things I was warned about in hospital. You want
to know what my missing leg looks like.” Said Ed.

“Well, yes I do, but I
hate myself for wanting to know. I am so shallow and thoughtless that I can’t
believe it.” Anne could barely look Ed in the eye.

“You are not shallow, you
are like everyone else, and you just need to know.”

With that said Ed stood up,
removed his trousers and his prosthetic leg. He also took off his jacket and
T-shirt to reveal a tanned body of iron with a very high mileage. He stood
balancing on his good leg in front of Anne. He was only wearing his boxers.

“What do you think?” Ed’s
right leg was missing from just above the knee.

Anne was welling up with
tears, mainly of embarrassment, but she also had tears of love and concern for
Ed.

“I just wanted to know,
I’m very sorry to have asked.”

“I’ve also got some wounds
here on my side and some here hidden by my hair. How do I look?” Ed pointed out
the scars of war on his body. Anne looked at Ed in the eyes and could not speak.
They both needed a lot more time to get to know each other. She kissed him
briefly on the lips and hugged him.

“Is there anything else
you want to see?” Ed pretended to start removing his boxer shorts.

“No!” Anne screamed and
laughed out loud at the same time. She covered her face with her hands.

“OK have it your own way.
We’ve got plenty of time. We’ll take things slowly. And before you ask, as I
know you will, I am fully functional as far as I know, but it hasn’t been put
to the test since I was blown up.”

The authorities at the
Stoke Mandeville Hospital had not been informed of the policy about officers’
leaving celebrations. If they did know about it, they chose to ignore it
anyway. As a result of this oversight, Colonel Hatch had been informed that his
presence was needed, on a particular Saturday night in July, to receive a
special commendation for years of service. The arrangements were set up by a
committee, headed up by Sergeant Edward Makin. He spent many hours with his
committee, inviting the hundreds of servicemen and women who had been helped by
the Colonel over the years. There were a lot of them. About ninety percent of
those invited said that they would be coming. So on Saturday 6
^th
July 2013 the stage was set for the biggest leaving do ever.

Ed’s team had put together
a set of fifteen acts made up of men and women who had served in Iraq and
Afghanistan in the Colonel’s time. There were singers, dancers, comedians and
some specialist acts. The last twenty minutes was a special set from the
Kovergirls. Ed was lined up to provide the lead vocals for the last of the
Kovergirls songs.

The arena was full of
family friends and well-wishers. In total, more than one and a half thousand
people packed themselves into the place. The set list was perfect and it went
down a storm with the audience. When, at the end, Anne struck up the opening
chords to Coldplay’s
‘Fix You’
, there was a huge cheer. Although Ed was
singing the song, he was almost drowned out by the crowd singing along with
him. It was quite a moment and Ed looked over towards Anne as they performed
the song. He blew her a kiss and she laughed back while playing the keyboards.
Gail came in with the searing guitar solo and then the whole ensemble came on
to the stage to finish off the song together.

After the applause had
died down, Colonel Hatch came on to the stage to a tumultuous reception. He was
in his usual, immaculate, Colonel’s uniform and had his medals pinned to his
left breast pocket.

He reluctantly took the
microphone and waited for silence.

“You men and women are my
rewards, Thank you.” Was all he could say.

Later the next evening, as
Anne and Ed snuggled up on the sofa, listening to some music, they went over
the day’s events and especially the concert and the accolades that the Colonel
had received. Anne asked Ed what the Colonel had said to him afterwards. Ed said
that the Colonel had told him he had better make sure that he takes good care
of Anne, as he would never find someone more caring.

 Anne blushed and turned
to Ed and said

“I feel like I have been
given the chance of something really special. The Colonel talked about rewards
last night and I want you to know that you are my reward Ed.”

“What did you do to
deserve this reward?” Asked Ed smiling.

“I don’t know. I don’t
deserve you. I’m just glad we have each other.”

“Me too.” Ed said as he
kissed her.

“Me too”.

A holiday romance where no one is quite
who they say they are!

T
he first novella in the Sixty Minute
Romance Series

A romantic story set in the sunshine and
the splendour of a Maldivian island. A holiday Romance where no one is quite
who they sat they are. Follow the flight from London to the magnificent holiday
island that Sandra and her best friend Anne take. This tropical paradise was
made for romance.

Description from back cover of the print
edition.

Sandra Wrighton was having a bad year. This
included breaking up with her boyfriend after catching him in bed with someone
else, and losing her job. Her solution was to go on a fabulous, all inclusive
holiday to the Maldives with her best friend.

Even before she took the flight from
Heathrow, she was hoping to meet a nice guy for some holiday romance and a bit
of fun. The reality was far more unexpected and exhilarating.

Where Love Blossoms in the Midst of
Danger

The Third Novella in the Sixty Minute
Romance Series

Fiona Makin loved her
little antique shop. It was in a sleepy English village and it was her whole
life. There was no room, or time, for love in Fiona’s life. She was far too
busy. That was until she was saved from being run over by a car. Her rescuer
was the mysterious William Ayres. He pretended to be interested in Victorian
Welsh Dolls, but he wasn’t. He was enigmatic, evasive and always in the midst
of trouble. This quickly became a major problem for him, because he had fallen
in love at first site with Fiona. How could he win her heart over?

Look out for more romance
titles from Naomi Davies coming soon.

Go to:
NaomiDavies.com

To see all our other publications and
to contact us, please visit KJpublishing.com