Vera's Valour Read Online Free PDF

country garden, aware of the sweet smells of nature, Vera’s mind raced. A chicken dish would be easy to make if she had the ingredients and the wood fire kitchen range lit to put the cooking pot on. Then here in the large garden there was bound to be a vegetable patch with a few onions and carrots, herbs - and knowing the French they would have a bottle of wine tucked away somewhere.
    Yes, it is possible, she mused. “But where am I going to get some butter from?” she said aloud to a cat who sat on the wall cleaning its paws. “The French use a lot of butter in their cooking.”
    “This is a country area, with dairy farms around, I dare say I can get some for you.”
    It was Geoff back.
    Vera gulped back her emotion at seeing him again. It brought tears to her eyes just knowing he was still alive. She said, “I thought it would be a good idea to cook a meal for everyone.”
    “Excellent.”
    “Can you get some wood for me? I’ll need to get the range going.”
    * * *
    Vera was soon in her element, occupied collecting some onions, parsley, thyme and bay leaves from the garden. Soon she was washing the vegetables and plucking the chickens while Geoff went off the find some butter.
    She felt happy preparing to cook the meal, and received many delighted smiles from the people coming and going from the house.
    “Haven’t you got any work to do?” she asked Geoff when he’d come back with a bundle of firewood and a big pat of butter.
    “Nope. Not now. My work is at a standstill until the invasion is over. Then, if our troops manage to get a foothold on French soil and drive the enemy from the coast, I’ll have to help get the Mulberry B dock in place.”
    With delight Vera realised she’d have Geoff’s company for a few days. They had drifted apart since their wedding and with the stress of their wartime work. But now they were together with plenty of time, and able to renew their close relationship – although in a situation that they least expected their love affair to continue and thrive.
    The old tiled French country kitchen had old fashioned, cooking utensils - but all she needed.
    Geoff teased her saying, “When I first recruited you to cook meals in the town hall kitchen in Lynn, you said you wouldn’t even scrub a carrot in it!”
    Vera, who was chopping onions rapidly as a professional chef with a sharpened knife, laughed. “Yes, I remember I was rather spoilt after working in a first class restaurant. It was a shock having to cook cheap meals helped only by untrained assistants.”
    “But I knew you were sterling and would manage, Vera.”
    Flattered, Vera smiled and replied. “Just as the British engineers trust you with you work on Mulberry, Geoff.”
    A shadow passed over his face and she knew he was still worried about his responsibility with setting up the floating dock. “I wish you didn’t know about it,” he muttered, squatting down and feeding the stove with small logs of wood that crackled in the fire.
    “Why? It allows me to understand the heavy load of responsibility you carry. I know you are suffering from thinking your past, and that another error may occur again. Which doesn’t help you feel you can do the job – but I know you have worked so hard to get it right and you have the necessary knowledge and skills. No one can expect more from you than that. But everyone learns from their mistakes – and you will have too. You have experience on your side.”
    He didn’t reply, but he went over to where she was sizzling some chopped onions in a frying pan, and took her in his arms. “The only success I want is with you,” he said softly in her ear. “And I’m sorry I’ve been so snappy over the past months.”
    “Oh Geoff, just remember, I love you. We’ll get over this war together, with all its horrors and difficulties.”
    He kissed her.
    “Aye, aye,” shouted a man who’d come into the kitchen, “You can’t do that there here! Get on with the cooking – I’m