A Sister's War by Molly Green (the reading strategies book txt) 📕

very much in love with someone for a long time. He said he loved me. We had so much fun together and I didn’t for one moment question anything about him. But as the time went on I couldn’t understand, if we loved each other so much, why we weren’t making plans to get married. My friends kept saying how lucky I was to have such a handsome, charming man who obviously adored me and asking when was the happy day. I came to the conclusion it was obviously me who was being unreasonable – trying to rush things. So I tried hard to just enjoy the time I spent with him and not worry.

‘And then the war started. By this time he’d joined the RAF. He told me he was being sent abroad and wasn’t allowed to tell me where as he’d had to sign the Official Secrets Act. I believed him. Until one day my friend said she’d seen him in London – in Selfridges – with a woman on his arm and twins.’ Jessica briefly closed her eyes as though the pain was still fresh. ‘My friend doesn’t think he recognised her. He’d only met her briefly once.’

Ronnie swallowed the last bite of her sandwich, her eyes fixed on Jess.

‘At first I thought she must be mistaken. But when she overheard the woman call him by name, I knew she was speaking the truth. At first he denied it, but then he broke down, begging me not to leave him. He said he was going to ask his wife for a divorce. Can you believe it? Married with a couple of kids. I wasn’t stupid. I knew he’d never leave his family for me. He was like most men – wanted to have his cake and eat it.’

She sighed, but Ronnie saw her eyes fill, then look away. She obviously wasn’t over him yet.

‘Will’s too young to be married with twins,’ Ronnie said lightly, then was ashamed. How could she be so thoughtless. She took Jessica’s hand. ‘I’m sorry, Jess. I don’t mean to belittle your horrible experience, but you’ve got to believe me – Will’s not like your ex-boyfriend. And anyway, we’ve never even been out together so there’s not much chance of falling in love with him.’ She looked steadily at Jessica. ‘Is this man the same one who sent the tickets?’

‘Yes.’

Before Ronnie could change her mind, she said, ‘Then we’ll have a fabulous evening at his expense, the swine.’

Jessica broke into a broad smile. ‘Really? You’ll come with me to the dance?’

‘Even if I have to dance in my wellies,’ Ronnie chuckled. ‘Come on, Jess. Let’s get going before Angela wakes up.’

It was another three days before the sun appeared and began to melt the ice. Three days listening to Angela’s moaning and groaning. That morning Dora told them she’d managed to flag down a boatman and his family, and according to Dora he had two strapping sons. Upon opening the hatch Ronnie could hear a commotion outside – loud noises of banging and cracking – and a roar from what sounded like the boatman ordering his boys what to do and getting some stick back from the pair of them.

‘Break the h’ice round t’hull first,’ he bellowed, ‘or them timbers’ll break, sure as eggs.’

‘Bleedin’ wind’s a booger t’day,’ one of the sons shouted back. ‘It keeps blowin’ the moty inter the rhubarb.’

What on earth did he mean? Ronnie wondered. It was like another language. She had to watch. Perhaps she could help in some way. Pushing her way through the hatch she crawled onto the roof. It was bitterly cold. Too late she realised she hadn’t got her hat and gloves on. It was too precarious to shove her hands in her pockets. The boatman on his narrow boat with an enormous pole in his hand caught sight of her and waved frantically. Was he trying to tell her something? If he was, she had no idea what he meant. She was about to brave it and see how the others were faring in the motorboat when a sudden gust of wind caught her off-guard, threatening to sweep her off her feet.

‘Back inside, miss,’ Dora screamed above the noise. ‘I’m not havin’ no more accidents from any of yous.’

Using every ounce of her strength, her heart racing, Ronnie managed to scramble back as Dora instructed. Relief flooded through her as her boots touched the floor of the cabin, and the warmth from the stove enveloped her, making steam rise in puffs from her raincoat.

‘Take your coat off at once, young lady,’ Jessica ordered.

‘In a minute,’ Ronnie said through chattering teeth. ‘I didn’t think it would be that cold when I saw it was sunny out.’ She spread her hands towards the fire. ‘It’s the wind. The men were having a terrible time trying to break the ice with the wind nearly knocking them over.’ She wouldn’t tell them how close she’d been to being swept over the side. She took in a few slow breaths, willing her heart to stop hammering. ‘By the looks of things, I can’t see us going anywhere today.’

The boatmen were several hours before they were able to break the ice and free Persephone and Penelope. By then it was dusk and Dora came to give the trainees instructions for tomorrow morning.

‘If the cut’s iced up again we’ll have ter untie the boats and use the motor ter clear a passage in front, then come back for the butty.’ She glared at the little group. ‘It’ll take twice as long, so mind yer ready half seven sharp.’

‘I’ll barely have time to put my make-up on,’ Jessica grumbled.

Ronnie glanced at her and smiled. Jessica grinned back. Even if they didn’t agree on Will Drake, Ronnie was happy they were friends again. And if she were absolutely honest, she wasn’t at all sure she felt quite the same towards Will herself.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Bit by bit Persephone and Penelope were making