The Way Ahead Read Online Free PDF Page B

going overseas, Rosie would like me to stay on indefinitely.’
    ‘You and Rosie, well, there’s a gilt-edged partnership,’ said Tim. ‘As for doing something to help, well, God bless you, Puss, it’s—’
    ‘I’m not relying on God,’ said Felicity, ‘I’m relying on you. I’m entitled to, I’m married to you.’
    ‘Happy is the day,’ said Tim. ‘Let’s see, begin now, that was the idea, I think. Well, it’s a warm afternoon, and that’s in our favour. What else is?’ He surveyed shelving green slopes, farmlands and a farmhouse away to their left. Not far from it was an open barn full of light and shade, and hay. ‘This is a lovely spot, and that over there is promising.’
    ‘Could you enlarge on this and that?’ asked Felicity.
    ‘Yes, the spot’s quiet, we’re by ourselves, and there’s a barn not more than fifty yards from here,’ said Tim. ‘I could walk you over the field to it.’
    ‘You shocker,’ said Felicity, ‘you’re talking about a roll in the hay with the well-brought-up daughter of a Streatham gent recently promoted to bank manager. Little did I think, as a growing schoolgirl with romantic ideas about chivalry and men of honour, that I’d end up marrying a first-class bounder.’ She expelled a little laugh. ‘Oh, well, some girls are lucky. I’m one of them, I like my own particular bounder.’
    Tim smiled and gave the reins a little tug. The ambling nag stopped, its nose dipped and it began nibbling at the grass verge of the lane. Its own attitude to hay was to eat the stuff while it was still grass.
    ‘The barn’s a washout?’ said Tim.
    ‘Well, I ask you, lover,’ said Felicity, ‘a barn when we’ve got a room and a bed all to ourselves at Rosie and Matt’s cottage? That makes some farmer’s hay a ticklish joke.’
    ‘So how about if we go for an early bedtime and a discussion under the bedclothes to make certain, before we get reckless, that you really are sure about this family planning idea?’ suggested Tim.
    ‘I’m already sure about one thing, even if I sound soft in the head,’ said Felicity, ‘and that’s that I’d like us to have our own versions of Giles and Emily.’
    Tim put an arm around her.
    ‘We’ll go for it, Puss,’ he said, but he was painfully conscious of the fact that whatever children they had, she would never experience the joy of actually seeing them. Never. She must know she’d have to live with that, and he was certain she’d taken it into account. His pride in her and his admiration for her had never been more acute. He had to survive this uncivilized war and be around to help her in her inevitable moments of frustration and stress. He had only narrowly survived a Commando raid on Sicily last year, a raid designed to test the German coastal defences of the island before the Allies invaded it. Those defences proved vigilant and deadly. German machine-guns caught the vanguard of his group, which lost seven men killed and two taken prisoner in a matter of minutes. He himself and Colonel Lucas, his brother-in-law, both took leg wounds. They were evacuated only just in time. Having been wounded on other occasions during his time as a Commando, Tim had a feeling the Jerries were out to get him one way or another. Sod that, he thought, I need to stay alive for Felicity and the kids we’re going to have. There’s something special blowing the way of the Commando group, something that makes me think I’ve got to take extra care. I think we’re going to be geared up for a real blood-and-guts operation that’ll make all others seem like larky tea parties. He shook the reins. ‘Walk on, Dobbin,’ he said.
    ‘It’s Humpy,’ said Felicity.
    ‘Well, I love the nag and you too,’ said Tim.
    ‘Mutual all round, old soldier,’ said Felicity. ‘So let’s look forward to the patter of tiny feet.’
    That, of course, was Felicity thinking of sounds. Sounds were her substitute for images. Tim reached and took hold of her hand.