The Soldier's Daughter Read Online Free PDF

Ernie quipped, hoping to raise a smile from her. She looked very glum and not at all excited to discover she had family she had never known about. There was another knock at the door then; it was Ruth, and the subject was closed as Ruth stared at Ernie from adoring eyes.
    Mrs Brindley picked up her knitting and retired to her comfortable old chair by the fire, leaving the young people to it.
    ‘Not long till you go now then?’ Ruth said as she placed her gas mask on the table.
    Ernie looked uncomfortable as he lowered his head and responded: ‘No, not long at all – but then the war can’t last forever, can it?’ He was shocked to see that there were tears in her eyes and that she was blinking rapidly to stop them from falling. Briony noticed too and hastily rose from her seat as guilt shot through her. She knew how much Ruth cared for Ernie and wished that she could still look at him as merely a friend – but then it wasn’t as if she’d ever intended to feel as she did, was it?
    ‘I reckon I’ll get off now,’ she said quietly, trying to ignore the disappointment that had flared in Ernie’s eyes. ‘I’ve got to get my clothes ready for work tomorrow and check that Mum’s got the children’s outfits ironed too.’
    ‘Shall I see you home?’ Ernie scraped his chair back from the table but Briony shook her head and grinned.
    ‘I hardly think you need to do that, seeing as I only live a few steps across the yard. No, you stay here and have a chat to Ruth, and I’ll see you in the morning at the same time, shall I?’ she asked her friend. Ruth nodded absently and snatching up her coat, Briony made a hasty retreat.
    On entering her own kitchen again, she was dismayed to see that her mother had drunk almost half a bottle of sherry and looked a little bright-eyed.
    ‘I’ll have a tidy-up shall I?’ she said, discreetly grabbing the bottle and shoving it hastily back into the cupboard. Then she got the ironing board out and began to press the children’s school clothes. This was another job that her father had used to do each evening, and the thought of him standing there brought a lump to her throat. How could she blame her mother for feeling as she did, when she was missing him herself? Nothing seemed the same any more, and once Ernie was gone too she knew that she was going to feel even worse. Her thoughts returned then to the grandparents and the uncle she had never known about and now, without being able to stop herself, she blurted out, ‘So tell me what my grandparents are like then, Mum. I know you said that Grandmother was strict – but what do they look like?’
    Lois sighed. She had been expecting this, and now that Briony knew about them there was no point in trying to cover it up any more. ‘Daddy was always smart,’ she recalled. ‘I suppose he had to be in the job he did. It was very rare not to see him in a suit and tie, apart from weekends. And even then he would rush away and get changed if there was a family who had suffered a bereavement. With his job, you were never really off duty. Mummy used to get quite angry with him sometimes when he was called away, especially if they were in the middle of entertaining guests. Death can strike at any time so Daddy was always on call, so to speak. He was a very tall, handsome man with brown wavy hair and lovely twinkling blue eyes.’ Her lips twitched into a smile as she thought back in time. ‘Often after school, if he wasn’t busy, he would take my brother and me down to the beach and we would paddle in the sea and make sandcastles. He always made time for me, whereas Mummy believed that children should be seen and not heard, although she was much more relaxed with Seb, my brother. He could never do any wrong in her eyes and she made no secret of the fact that he was her favourite. He is three years younger than me, and from the day he was born she doted on him. We had a nanny who would bath me, but Mummy always insisted on bathing Seb