The Angel Tree Read Online Free PDF

his lips.
    ‘You want to marry me?! I . . . oh Max, we’ve known each other for such a short time! Are you sure this is what you want?’
    ‘
Certain
sure. I know love when I feel it. It’ll be a different kind of life for you in Charleston, but it’ll be a good one. You’ll never want for anything, I
promise. Please, Greta, say yes, and I’ll spend the rest of my life doing my best to make you happy.’
    Greta looked at Max’s handsome, sincere face and gave him the answer they both wanted to hear.
    ‘I’m sorry I don’t have a ring to give you yet,’ he added, tenderly taking her left hand in his and smiling into her eyes, ‘but I want you to have my
grandmother’s engagement ring when we get to the States.’
    Greta smiled ecstatically back at him. ‘The only thing that matters is that we’re going to be together.’
    Over coffee, they discussed their plans: Max would sail home in two days’ time and Greta would follow him as soon as she’d worked out her notice and packed up her few
possessions.
    On the dance floor later that night, dizzy with romance and euphoria, Max pulled her closer to him.
    ‘Greta, I understand if this is inappropriate, but as we just got engaged and we’ve got so little time left before I sail, would you come back to my hotel? I swear I won’t
compromise you, but at least we can talk in private . . .’
    Greta could see that he was blushing. From what he’d said to her, she’d guessed that he was probably still a virgin. And, if he was going to be her husband, surely a kiss and a
cuddle wouldn’t hurt?
    Later, at his hotel in St James’s, Max took her in his arms and began to embrace her. Greta could feel his growing excitement, and hers, too.
    ‘Can I?’ he ventured, his fingers resting tentatively on the three buttons at the nape of her neck.
    Greta reasoned with herself that a few hours earlier she’d appeared almost naked in front of men she didn’t even know, so what was there to be ashamed about in giving the gift of her
innocence and making love to the man she was going to marry?
    The following day, as Greta sat in the Windmill’s dressing room securing her hair with a couple of kirby grips, she couldn’t help feeling anxious. Was she making
the right decision in marrying Max?
    Appearing on the big screen had been her ambition for as long as Greta could remember, and her mother had done nothing to discourage it. She’d been so obsessed with the cinema herself
she’d even named her only daughter after the legendary Garbo. As well as taking Greta to endless matinees at the Odeon in Manchester, her mother had also paid for elocution and acting
classes.
    But surely, Greta mused, if a career in the movies was her destiny, wouldn’t someone have spotted her by now? Directors were always popping in to cast their eye over the famous Windmill
Girls. During her four months at the theatre, two of her friends had been whisked off to become Rank starlets. It was the reason a lot of the girls, herself included, were here. They all lived in
hope that one day there would be a knock on the dressing-room door and a message would be passed to the girl in question that a gentleman from a film studio would ‘like a word’.
    She shook her head as she stood up and prepared to leave the dressing room. How could she even think about not marrying Max? If she stayed in London, she might still be at the Windmill in two,
or three, or four years’ time, enduring the degradation and up to her ears in debt. With so many young men killed in the war, she knew she was lucky to have found a man who seemed to love her
and, from what he’d said, could also give her a life of security and comfort.
    Today was Max’s last in London. He was due to sail back to America the following morning. Tonight they were meeting at the Mayfair Hotel for dinner and to finalise plans for Greta’s
passage. Then they would spend a last night together before he left at dawn to join his ship.