Soldier's Valentine by Lizzie Lane Read Free Book Online Page A

it to some of his pals on the cab stand.
    ‘I’m no Romeo, but I’d like to show her I care. I need to say some sweet words to her. P’haps I should write a poem. I do ’ear that Romeo types are good at writing poetry.’
    Laughter and a bit of teasing followed.
    ‘You old Romeo, you!’
    ‘Going soft in yer old age.’
    ‘Next thing you’ll be buying ’er a Valentine card for next Tuesday. That’s when sweethearts send each other Valentine cards.’
    He laughed along with them, but something had taken root. Mary Anne deserved a Valentine card. Imagine her face, he thought. It would be a sight worth seeing.
    Henry Randall was advised that the best cards would be found in Castle Street, a busy shopping thoroughfare in the centre of the city.
    Feeling pleased with himself and also a bit embarrassed, he parked his car, gathered his courage and entered the shop that looked likeliest to sell the best Valentine cards.
    He’d expected a frosty-faced woman behind the counter, but instead got a friendly young man with sandy-coloured hair, hazel eyes and delicate features.
    ‘Take a look at these, sir.’ His long slim fingers took three different cards from a white cardboard box. He set them out on the counter. ‘These are so very romantic, sir. Which one do you think your lady would like?’ He eyed Henry steadily, his smile unwavering.
    Henry flushed on meeting the young man’s gaze. The cards were far too pretty for male taste, a flock of doves in a dovecote surrounded by roses and a bright blue sky. A young man should be selling tools and hardware, he thought, not fripperies, flounces and ribbons – or cards like this.
    He surveyed each card in turn. ‘There don’t seem to be much between them,’ he said gruffly.
    The young man pointed at each card in turn. ‘Well, this one as you can see has a dovecote, this one is almost entirely roses and bluebirds, and this one has this bright red heart and lace all around it.’
    Henry chewed his bottom lip. Quite frankly, the sooner he was out of this shop and away from this nancy boy, the better.
    ‘May I make a suggestion?’ asked the young man, which only served to make Henry fidget and go red in the face. ‘I like the second one best – roses and bluebirds. And inside it says, “To my one and only Valentine”.’
    Their eyes met again, Henry’s narrowing slightly, recognising a faggot when he saw one.
    ‘I’ll take it. How much?’

CHAPTER EIGHT
    ‘I bought it for you. Happy Valentine’s.’
    Mary Anne gasped; her eyes wide with amazement.
    Henry did not easily show his feelings. Neither was he one for going into shops unless it was for pipe tobacco.
    Tears sprang to her eyes. Henry had gone against his nature to buy her this card. ‘It’s lovely. Did you really buy it yourself?’
    He hadn’t bothered to post it but had left it on the kitchen table for her to find.
    ‘It was me that bought it,’ he said to her. ‘Just in case you was thinking it was from somebody else.’
    Mary Anne, her stomach now swollen with their second child, laughed and shook her head. ‘Well, I didn’t think it was the milkman, the baker or the butcher,’ she said laughingly.
    At first he was gruff and then he smiled. ‘I thought you deserved it. Thought I didn’t court you enough in the early days and I’ve never been one for pretty words.’
    She blinked away the tears. If only he knew how much this meant to her on this day, on Valentine’s Day. ‘You’re a good man, Henry.’
    ‘Aye. Better be getting off to work.’
    The chair legs scraped the floor as he got to his feet.
    She sensed his embarrassment and it hurt. They weren’t exactly unhappily married, but Mary Anne was aware of the barrier between them, the one she put down to her own act of dishonesty.
    It was always possible Henry might hear the truth about her darling Edward and her first child. News travelled fast nowadays. No matter how careful her parents had been, there was always that