Broken Rainbows Read Online Free PDF

until embarrassing occasions, like now.
    â€˜It’s about time we had some fun in this town.’ Jenny sat down and stirred her tea.
    â€˜That depends on your definition of fun.’ Picking up an enamel bowl full of dirty dishes Tina pushed backwards through the swing door that led into the kitchen. Dumping the bowl in the stone sink she shouted to the cook to stop reading the paper and start washing. She hesitated for a fraction of a second before walking back out into the café. Just long enough to open the gold locket that hung around her neck and look at the smiling image of her husband, William. If a regiment had to be billeted in Pontypridd, why couldn’t the powers that be have chosen a Welsh one?
    â€˜Why they had to inflict a regiment of Americans on a backwater like Pontypridd, or billet them in a household of women and children like yours, is beyond me,’ Dr John, Bethan’s father-in-law grumbled as she restocked her medical bag in the surgery.
    â€˜Because they’re fighting on our side?’ she suggested mildly, taking two crepe bandages out of a box before replacing it in the cupboard.
    He gave her a wry smile. Relations between them had thawed into mutual respect since she had answered his plea to return to work after Eddie’s birth. The shortage of qualified and experienced nurses was acute, not only in the town but in the country, and her presence had considerably reduced the workload of the second district nurse and the only two doctors left in Pontypridd: himself and the elderly Dr Evans, who was well past retirement age.
    â€˜They should house them in barracks. With most of our men in North Africa or the East there must be hundreds of empty camps.’
    â€˜Obviously not enough.’
    â€˜They’ll play havoc with the health of the women in the town,’ he prophesied grimly. ‘Be warned, two months from now we’ll be in the throes of an epidemic of venereal disease and cleaning up after double the number of botched, backstreet abortions.’
    â€˜I hope not.’
    â€˜It’s inevitable. Damned war. That case you referred from Station Terrace died last night.’
    â€˜Oh, no!’ She dropped the box of dry dressings she’d been opening. ‘She had four children …’
    â€˜And was three months pregnant with a husband who hadn’t been home in a year.’
    â€˜What did you put on the death certificate?’
    â€˜Septicaemia. But the neighbours know the truth. I think she must have asked half the women in the town for advice before going to the butcher who finished her off. I spoke to the sergeant last night. The police haven’t a clue who’s doing it. That makes nine cases this year.’
    â€˜What’s happening to her children?’
    â€˜Her sister’s taken them in, but she has five of her own so we know how long that will last. I hate this war.’
    â€˜Don’t we all.’ She snapped her bag shut.
    â€˜Heard from Andrew?’
    â€˜Not for two weeks, but you know what prisoner-of-war mail is like.’
    â€˜Unfortunately.’ He looked up at her as she went to the door. ‘We will win now that the Americans are finally here.’
    â€˜Two minutes ago you were complaining about them.’
    â€˜Only because they want to fight from Pontypridd instead of the continent.’ He flicked through the pile of paperwork on his desk. ‘The sooner the blighters get into Germany, free the prisoners and send them home, the sooner Andrew can shoulder some of this load. But they’d better hurry up. I’m not sure how much longer I can carry on working at this pace.’
    â€˜The only question I’ve got, Bethan, is when can Mary start?’ Alma set a couple of enamel mugs on the scrub-down table in the kitchen at the back of her cooked meats and pie shop, and reached for the teapot.
    â€˜Tomorrow soon enough for you?’
    â€˜Wonderful.