nose was red with cold and his face was white and pinched. She guessed that the farm would be barren, the earth hard, frosty and unyielding, the animals keeping to their stalls away from the winter weather.
He took her hand and though he wore gloves she could feel the cold of his fingers as they twined in hers. She knew this moment would be brief, she must send him home to his beloved countryside before the raids began. But for the moment he was hers.
They embraced and she knew the scent of him, the strength of his arms, the way his body responded to hers, and she knew that this moment might never come again. Tomorrow might never come.
She took his hand and led him towards the town, towards her house. The streets were bright with icy clear air. No one was about, all probably huddled around the coal fires, toes toasting, backs freezing from the draughts blowing through the cracks in the buildings ravaged by bombs.
In the bedroom he looked at her doubtfully. ‘Are you sure, Hari?’
She was scarlet. ‘Are you prepared, you know?’
He shook his head. ‘I never presumed.’
Hari went to the drawer and without looking at him took out a small packet. ‘Here.’
There was an embarrassed silence as they both undressed, but once they were in the bed, the sheets like ice beneath them, they were close, skin touching silky skin. He kissed her gently, nuzzling her neck. And then a fierce fire blazed between them, wanting, needing each other with a desperation that transcended all doubts.
And then Hari cradled him, holding on to Michael’s broad shoulders, bonding him to her, knowing whatever happened now they were mates for life. In that moment she knew happiness, pure and invincible, and she held him close and tender and it was as if they would never be parted again.
Twenty-Six
When Michael came home from Swansea that night there was a glow about him and my heart sank, I knew the truth, he and Hari were lovers and he was lost to me for ever.
That night Swansea took a pounding from the enemy and Michael sat, head in his hands, in a dark corner of the farm living room close to the radio, while Jessie and I looked at each other helplessly.
When I couldn’t stand it any more, I went to him and put my arms around him like the friend he’d always thought me. ‘Hari will be all right,’ I said reassuringly, ‘she’ll be up at Bridgend, away from the worst of it.’ He looked up at me with such heartbreaking hope in his eyes that I needed to swallow hard to keep back the tears.
‘Where is Bridgend then?’
‘It’s a few miles from Swansea.’ I only had the vaguest idea myself. ‘Hari said they never get bombed because the buildings are on low land and the mists cover them. The German bombers don’t even know they are there.’ I didn’t add that there were enough shells and things in the factory to wipe the whole place out of existence.
He seemed more cheerful then. ‘I’ll make you pair a cup of tea,’ he said, ‘I know you women like your cuppa.’
I smiled. ‘That seems to have helped, Aunt Jessie,’ I said.
‘I think you can drop the “Aunt”, Meryl, you’re a woman now, you actually put the feelings of Michael and me before your own. Well done. Come and give Jessie a hug.’
We clung together in silence. I could hear Michael in the kitchen; he was even whistling now unaware my heart was breaking. Jessie and I untangled ourselves as we heard his footsteps coming towards the door. I even managed a smile as he put the tray of tea down on the table. He grinned at me.
‘This Bridgend, Hari’s safe there you think?’
‘She’s in an office, Michael, she’s working on a machine, a radio thingie.’ I knew I shouldn’t say too much as what Hari chose to tell him about her job was up to her, but it wasn’t very much judging by his attitude of complete attention.
I needed the tea, my throat was thick and I felt as if I’d swallowed a rubber ball whole. My chest hurt and I was constantly fighting tears. It was a work of art to stop my mouth from trembling. My Michael belonged to me, and Hari, with her lovely hair, her Madonna face, had taken him from me.
Only Jessie sensed my feelings; she leaned over and squeezed my hand but the sympathy made the tears brim into my eyes. I gulped my tea and the hot liquid eased my throat a bit.
‘I’ll go up early tonight,’ I said. I kissed Jessie’s cheek, which was damp, and her eyes meeting mine swam like blue fish in a pool. She was almost as anguished as I was at the turn of events.
‘Don’t go up yet, let’s go for a walk,’ Michael said easily, taking my arm. We often went for a walk but now everything had changed. I took a deep breath.
‘All right, but please don’t talk about my sister all night, it’s so boring.’ I winked at Jessie and she winked back, encouraging me to act naturally.
It was a lovely moonlit night; now and then a flash of light crossed the sky as a bomb exploded somewhere. Seconds later there was a tiny
‘We’re having some land girls arrive tomorrow,’ Michael said, ‘they are going to help me on the farm.’
‘Lovely for you—’ my tone was sarcastic—‘they’ll probably faint at the sight of a mouse.’
I wondered what Hari would make of that, young ladies on the farm with Michael. I… well, I was jealous as hell and that was daft of me as he was taken already: he loved my sister; he’d fallen all the way for her and no amount of eager women would tempt him away from Hari. I knew Michael well enough to understand he was the faithful sort.
I shivered and Michael put his arm around me. ‘Remember the night we cuddled up in the barn?’ he said, his lips against my hair. To him I would always be that small needy girl he’d humoured and comforted.
‘Oh, yes, when I ran away from the Dixons, I remember,’ I said as though it had been the furthest thing from my mind. I thought of it constantly, the way he’d held me against him, protective, loving almost. Almost but not quite.
A plane droned heavily overhead, one of the enemy had obviously lost the way to the town. I remarked on it and Michael took my hand.
‘Run!’ he said fiercely, ‘he’s going to unload the rest of his bombs here before he hits the Channel.’
My legs worked like a lamb in the spring as I leaped over hillocks and rocks and went wherever Michael was taking me. I heard the screech of a bomb and then I was flat on the ground with Michael lying on top of me. The bomb exploded in a gulley and I suppose that’s what saved our lives. But the sound of it crashed into my ears, my head, and shook through my whole body in waves of shock.
Michael had raised his head and took my face in his hands. ‘Are you all right, Meryl?’
I became aware then of him and of my own body. My nipples tingled, I felt all moist and strange. I had the urge to raise myself up against his pelvis but I restrained myself. Michael would be horrified. I knew that within the core of my being, just as I knew I had been aroused to desire by the man I loved, the man I would always love.
Twenty-Seven
Hari was very aware of Meryl standing behind her staring at the radio and her eyes narrowed. She could feel the animosity coming from her sister in waves. Meryl was clearly hurt and angry. Any moment now she would speak and, with a feeling of dread, Hari knew exactly what was on her sister’s mind. Meryl knew in that strangely intuitive way of hers that Michael and she were lovers.
For a moment Hari gloried in the thought, she felt his body taking charge of hers, felt his hands caressing, delighting her, his body bringing hers to thunderous paroxysms of pleasure.
‘You’ve…’ Meryl hesitated. ‘You and Michael have…’ She was unable to speak the words.
