THE WAR BRIDE CLUB (17 page)

      June smiled and sighed in relief. She wasn’t used to the way Americans joked. Especially not about things like that! Besides, how could she ever tire of her Eddie?

      “Anything you want to do?” Patricia asked.
 

      They went back to walking, arm in arm.
 

      “Post some letters back home, that’s all.”

      “Don’t need to stop and look at baby clothes?” her sister-in-law teased.
 

      June felt her eyebrows cross, but she tried not to react. “Another American attempt at humor?”
 

      This time it was Patricia who pretended to look horrified.
 

      “Well, you being a newlywed, not to mention you and my brother being holed up in that new house of yours every night just made me wonder, that’s all.”

      June couldn’t help the blush that stung her cheeks. She’d never get used to how brash women were over here. Laughing about intimate matters?

      “So?” Patricia asked.
 

      She looked sideways. “Can I call you Patty?”

      “Of course.”

      June kept walking. She hadn’t known if Patty was just the name Eddie called his sister and she had kept forgetting to ask.
 

      “But that still doesn’t answer my question. Baby clothes or not? I’m ready to be an aunt!”      

      “No baby clothes yet.” June was surprised with how firm her voice was. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be, heavens did she want to be! But she hadn’t been blessed yet, and she wasn’t about to jinx herself by buying clothes before she needed them.
 

      “Oh look, there’s Mother.”

      June followed Patty’s gaze and they walked off together. Patty was already busy chatting about something else, but June was still stuck on the baby thoughts.
 

      Eddie was as desperate for a family as she was, but all they could do was hope and pray.
 

      She suppressed a giggle.
 

      
And keep trying.
They still couldn’t keep their hands off one another.
 

CHAPTER TWELVE

ALICE felt like there was a hand around her throat. Tight, squeezing the breath from her windpipes, suffocating her. She woke with a start. She was hot and clammy, her hair trapped against her forehead.
 

      Only the noise of snoring made her realize she was safe. Or at least she was as safe as could be.
For here.
 

      She lay her head back down on the pillow and listened to the now familiar rumble of her husband asleep. Sometimes she kicked him and then stayed deathly still, pretending to be asleep in case he caught her out, but it never helped. He would stop, fidget, then start the bear-like breathing all over again. Her only relief came in falling asleep first, but waking up like this from a nightmare left her awake for hours.
 

      And left her thinking.
 

      Her life here was nothing like she’d hoped. Not even a shell of the life she had imagined as they’d sailed across the ocean.
 

      Where was her husband? Where was the man, the soldier, who she’d fallen in love with? Where was the in-control, strong, devilishly handsome man who had looked so dapper in his uniform, so kind when he lay helpless on a hospital bed? Who had courted her so diligently? Who had progressed through the ranks in the United States Army to become a Captain before his 25
^th
birthday?

      Alice rose and wrapped her shawl tight around her shoulders. The house was cool, but then maybe it was just her skin. She was exhausted from work, tired of worrying, and sick to death of missing home. But most of all she was annoyed at having to watch every penny they spent.
 

      She’d expected lavish parties, a handsome townhouse, never having to lift a finger herself unless it came to the odd spot of housework.
 

      
How wrong she’d been.
 

      Here, she worked long hours, cooked for her husband, cleaned, washed, managed the household. And worried each week about the bills they had stacking up on the counter.
 

      Not to mention watching as her husband used as every spare penny they had to buy whisky. Before passing out on his chair, or ranting at the wireless, or worse, yelling at her. Or maybe when he refused to speak to her was as ba as it could get.

      She desperately wanted to go home. She wanted to step back in time and turn down Ralph’s advances. But she knew if it happened over again, she would still marry him. No girl would have turned him down. Not the way he had been then.
 

      But that didn’t help her cope with the disappointment. Her husband was a loser. A man who’d been important once, in the army, but who was nothing in the real world.
       

A man who had lost everything and given up. What had happened? What had changed since she’d last seen him?

      Tears prickled her eyes and she blinked at them. Half-heartedly. And as she often did in the wee early hours of the morning, she boiled kettle and made herself a sweet cup of hot chocolate, like she always had back home, and let big juicy tears roll into her cup as she bravely took each sip.
 

      She was a lonely, miserable excuse for a married woman. She hated her job, she hated her home, and worse of all, she hated her husband like she’d never hated a human being before.
 

      She thought of the soldier whose eyes had caught hers when she was on duty as a nurse. Of the strong, tall man who had so gallantly proposed to her, searching her out and knocking on her door.
 

      And then she listened to the repetitive, snarling snore from the other room.
 

      
What had she ever done to deserve this?

Alice didn’t want to argue today. Not again. Every time they were together they either argued or he ignored her, and today she didn’t want to. She preferred the silence.
 

      She stared at her complexion in the mirror and fought against the frown that was hovering over her mouth. Her lips seemed to be in a constant fight with gravity these days, whereas before she’d found it hard to wipe a smile from her face.
 

      Alice smoothed powder over her skin, gently sweeping the blush over her cheeks. Then she picked up her lip brush and fought the shake of her hand, trembling as she painted red across her mouth. But it didn’t help. She could see how lifeless her eyes appeared, dull instead of radiant, and there was no glow to her face.
 

      She forced herself to smile and pulled on her panty hose, the last pair she owned that weren’t peppered with holes or runs. Just because she was unhappy didn’t mean she was going to let her standards drop. It was all that kept her going. Was the only reason she was able to brave the world each day with her chin tilted, head held high.
 

      The sun shone with such ferocity outside that Alice wondered if it was trying to cheer her up. She decided it would, that she wouldn’t feel sorry for herself any longer. They would get through this. Ralph would come right. She could get him help. It couldn’t stay like this forever.
 

      She straightened her skirt, wishing she had something slightly shorter to match the new fashions. But she still looked good. The clothes she did have were expensive, tasteful, even if they weren’t the latest designs. She heard the other girls snicker about her at work, whispering as she passed, refusing to let her become part of the group. But she didn’t care. Women had gossiped about her, her entire life. Hated her because men always turned their heads when she walked by.
 

      She didn’t need friends. Well, she didn’t need new ones. The only friends she cared about were the girls from the ship. Girls who were probably having the time of their life as newlyweds, while she suffered through each day with her man.
 

      Alice thrust her chin up and walked out of the bedroom. She grimaced at the mess in their tiny lounge but kept on moving. Walked past her husband, who was staring into space on the porch, his big frame dwarfing the rickety chair, and didn’t even pause.
 

      She cringed as she headed down the street, hating that she could leave home without him even acknowledging her, or caring, but she didn’t stop or give in to the tears. There was no room for emotion in her life, at least not in public.
 

      It took her half an hour to walk to work, but it would do her good. The sunshine on her skin felt pleasant, uplifting almost, and it beat catching the bus.
 

 
Alice didn’t so much hate her work as she hated
having
to work. She’d never expected to do more than cook and clean her home, care for children when the time came. But work? It hadn’t really ever been part of her life’s plan.
 

      And she especially hadn’t ever considered that she’d be the only one working.
 

      “Mrs. Jones?”

      She looked up, her fingers hovering over the typewriter.
 

      “Mr. Roberts has called a full staff meeting. We are to meet promptly at ten-thirty in the boardroom.”

      Alice nodded. Mrs Perkins, the old tart who ran the office team, had never been particularly friendly. Hardly cracked a smile once since she’d started.

      She went back to typing. Her fingers moved surely over the keys, not as fast as most of the others, but neatly and without error. Alice smiled as she tapped. Her teacher never would have believed that her worst student would end up typing for a living, but something about her classes must have stuck.
 

      A whisper of cologne wafted past her, making her head snap up.
 

      
Oh.
 

      Her eyes followed her nose and fixed on a handsome man as he glided through the office. He smelled and looked expensive. His black hair was swept back, grey inching past his temple. He was tall, had a neatly trimmed moustache that followed his mouth, and the watch on his wrist was made from thick gold.
 

      Alice darted her eyes back to her work as he looked her way.
 

      
Oh Lord!
He’d caught her staring.
 

      She didn’t dare peek at him again, but the heat creeping up her cheeks and flushing her face would have given her away if he was still watching.
 

      He had to be Mr. Roberts.
 

      
Her new boss.
 

Alice hadn’t been invited into the boardroom before. Only the senior assistants were asked to sit in on meetings and take notes. Or listen to one of the men dictate letters.
 

      It was elegant. Or as elegant as a meeting room could be. A large mahogany table was flanked by numerous chairs, and windows looked out over the city.
 

      She hesitated by the door before taking her place alongside the far wall, leaving the chairs for those higher up the chain than her.
 

      The room filled within minutes. A low hum descended as the employees spoke in hushed tones, but no one spoke to Alice. She was used to it.
 

      Then one of the men cleared his throat. She looked up.
 

      Their boss appeared, walking through the door and taking his position at the head of the table. She watched as he smiled, looking at ease with so many people’s attention focused on him.
 

      “Thank you all for gathering so promptly.”
 

      “I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself, and let you all know that I anticipate the change of leadership will not cause any disruption.”

      Mr. Roberts coughed. Loudly.
       

      “Would someone be so kind as to fetch me a glass of water?”

      Alice felt a painful stab in her ribs, followed by Mrs Perkins’ snappy voice in her ear.
 

      “Get to it.”

      Alice glared at her and walked out, moving slowly through the crowd of women at the back who didn’t seem interested in moving out of her way. She wasn’t about to argue about jumping to attention, not when she was the newest employee. If anyone was going to get the boot, it would be her.
       

      Alice hurried down the corridor, poured a glass, then walked back to the boardroom. She glared at those in her way this time, not wanting to spill the glass.
 

      Her pace slowed when she neared her boss, though. When he looked up, he met her gaze.
 

      It felt like the whole room was watching her. As if everyone was watching her stare at the boss, hand quivering as she set the glass down on the table before him.