Summer Loving Read Online Free PDF Page B

roared into life. The skies opened and rain fell in torrents.
    ‘Come on, Mor.’ Jess put an arm around the shaking shoulders. ‘We can’t help. So there’s no point us getting drenched.’
    Morwenna’s body jerked on a sob. ‘Jess, my wedding.’
    Jess tightened her grip. ‘They’ll soon have the fire out. The driver must have broken every speed limit to get here so fast. The rain will help too. And there’s still six weeks till your wedding. The chapel could be repaired by then.’
    Hunched against the driving rain they scurried up the hill and were soon in Mor’s kitchen drinking hot tea as the storm moved away. Thunder still rumbled and growled but its energy was spent.
    While Morwenna was upstairs getting ready for work, Jess spread toast with butter and home-made marmalade then put Mor’s soaked nightdress and towels in the machine. Mor had just come down when her mobile rang.
    ‘Hello, my lover. Yes, I know. I seen it,’ she said into the phone. ‘Hang on a minute.’ She turned to Jess. ‘’Tis Ben. He was on his way up the farm, seen the fire engine, and stopped his motorbike on the hill to ring me, dear of ’n.’
    ‘Say hi to him from me. I’m off home. Make sure you eat that toast. You’ve got plenty of time before the bus comes.’ Jess closed the door behind her.
    The clouds had parted to reveal a speedwell-blue sky. Sunshine made the wet road glisten, and the air was fresh and sweet, until she reached the crossroads and breathed in the acrid tang of wet ash and charred wood.

Chapter Five
    ––––––––
    B ack in her cottage, Jess stripped off her wet clothes, shoved them into the washer, then went upstairs for a shower. Wearing faded jeans and a polo shirt, she remade the bed and tidied up, smiling as she found Tom’s socks.
    It had been a lovely evening. Though their relationship this time around was still new, they had known each other since childhood and had loved each other as teenagers. Perhaps that, and the traumas they had both experienced, gave them a deeper appreciation of happiness, and each other.
    After an omelette and a cup of coffee, she opened her laptop and returned to her research.
    Known as the Blue and Grey because of their uniforms, the US 29 th Infantry Division had left New Jersey aboard the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary . The 19,000 soldiers were bound for Scotland to replace companies being sent to North Africa for the Desert Campaign.
    To avoid attack by German U-boats, the two liners sailed their zigzag course at full speed. But with every change of direction the ships heeled over, tipping dishes off tables and men out of bunks.
    Jess tried to imagine what it must have been like for the soldiers as they were carried ever further from home. Would tension have eased or increased as each day passed without a U-boat attack?
    With only twenty-four hours of the voyage remaining, one of the Royal Navy escorts sent out to meet them misjudged her course and cut across the liner’s bow.
    Jess’s hand went to her mouth as she read. The Queen Mary tore straight through the cruiser, cutting her in half. Crowded on the decks, men could only watch, helpless and horrified, as the two sections were swallowed by the sea, taking over 300 crewmen down with them.
    With the safety of the troops taking precedence over everything else, the liner raced on, reaching the Firth of Clyde the following day.
    Jess sat back. The men aboard that cruiser had not been lost in battle – which might at least have given their deaths some meaning – but through a tragic error of judgement.
    The US soldiers were sent by rail to Salisbury Plain for several months of basic training. After that, they came west to Devon and Cornwall.
    Linda’s mother, Diane, had been brought up on Trebleath Farm just outside Mawnan. So for her to have seen Billy-Joe Spencer often enough for them to start a relationship, he was probably based at a camp along the Helford.
    Needing a break from her research