Such Sweet Sorrow Read Online Free PDF Page A

asked me to marry him.’ She dropped the information casually, preparing him for an announcement that she hoped Tony would make tomorrow.
    A sleepless night spent reading old nursing textbooks that had belonged to her cousin Bethan had given her a newfound confidence, and that coupled with Tony’s proposal had convinced her that feeling the way they did about one another was enough to make anything possible.
    ‘You? You’re a baby. You’re only …’
    ‘Eighteen, and old enough to know my own mind.’
    ‘What did you tell him?’
    ‘That I’d think about it.’
    ‘As you’re under twenty-one you’ll need Mam’s or Uncle Evan’s permission, and I’ll do all I can to persuade them not to give it,’ he asserted pompously, wondering if his mother’s permission would count because she was a prisoner.
    ‘Mam married Dad when she was eighteen. She won’t stand in my way.’
    ‘That was different. Dad had a job. He was steadier than Tony’ll ever be, and he wasn’t about to go off to war.’
    ‘He volunteered when war broke out.’
    ‘And he didn’t come back, which is all the more reason for you not to marry Tony now. Do you want to be left with a pathetic widow’s pension and a couple of kids like Mam was?’
    ‘I wouldn’t mind if I had what Mam and Dad had first,’ she hit back defiantly.
    ‘What do you know about what they had? You weren’t even born when he was killed.’
    ‘I know plenty. Mam used to talk to me about him. They loved one another very much.’
    ‘So now you’re an expert on love!’
    ‘More of one than you, by the look of it.’
    ‘Diana, this isn’t a joking matter.’
    ‘Who’s joking? We’ve planned it all very carefully. Tony wants us to get engaged now, so I can take instruction while he’s training, that way we can get married on his embarkation leave.’
    ‘You’re turning Catholic?’
    ‘Don’t sound so shocked. Turning Catholic won’t transform me into a saint.’
    ‘A saint! You’re a tenth-rate Baptist, and I don’t doubt you’ll make a tenth-rate Catholic.’
    ‘This coming from the most religious man on the Graig.’
    ‘Has Tony told his father and mother about you? Because if he hasn’t, I warn you now, they’re not going to like the idea. They gave Trevor Lewis a hard time when he married Laura and they played hell with Ronnie when he wanted to marry Maud …’
    ‘And they’re going to be overjoyed at the thought of you marrying Tina?’
    ‘I told you, nothing’s settled. She hasn’t given me an answer – yet.’
    ‘And I haven’t given Tony an answer – yet,’ she echoed, crossing her fingers behind her back.
    ‘Bloody women. You’re all the same. Can’t make up your mind what dress to wear, let alone what man to marry.’
    ‘Language!’
    ‘Women are enough to drive a man to drink, let alone swearing.’
    ‘That’s because men never grow up. All you’re good for is starting stupid wars.’
    ‘Two minutes ago you wanted to marry a man.’
    ‘I said I was thinking about it.’ Tossing her head high she walked ahead of him, only to trip over a cat that squealed and scratched her legs, tearing a hole in her stocking. ‘Damn!’
    ‘Now who’s swearing?’ When she didn’t answer him, he tried coaxing her out of her temper. ‘Come on Di, you could say something.’
    ‘Like what?’
    ‘How about, “I hope it works out for you and Tina.”’
    ‘After what you’ve just said about my marrying Tony. No fear. Besides, I’m thinking of Tina. She’s a good friend, I’m not at all sure she deserves a half-baked twit like you.’
    ‘I am not half-baked.’
    ‘No? Only a half-baked twit would play around with Vera Collins.’
    ‘Isn’t anyone around here ever going to forget that?’
    ‘… And then to go and join the Guards without saying a word.’
    ‘Like Tony?’
    ‘Sometimes he can be half-baked too.’
    She paused outside the sweet shop she managed for Wyn Rees. As Wyn’s father also owned the sweet shop next