The Boy I Love by Marion Husband Read Free Book Online Page B

kitchen armchairs he tidied them on to the floor.
    â€˜Please, sit down. Would you like some cocoa?’
    She nodded absently and went to stand in front of the bookcase, tilting her head to read the spines of those books too large to stand upright. Opening the case she took a book out.
    â€˜ Health During Pregnancy. Do you think your father would let me borrow it?’
    He took it from her only to hand it back immediately, hating the shrivelling feel of its dust-dry cover. ‘Keep it. Dad never looks at books.’
    She sat down on the edge of the chair he had cleared, holding the book on her knee and watching him as he whisked cocoa powder into the warming milk. At last she said, ‘You chose hymns.’
    â€˜I remembered them from school. You can change them if you want.’
    â€˜No, they’re fine.’ She laughed awkwardly. ‘I remember them from school, too.’ She blushed. She blushed often and he wondered if this was as much a symptom of pregnancy as the sickness she suffered from. He didn’t know. Health During Pregnancy was the only book in the house he hadn’t read.
    He handed her the cocoa and sat down. After a moment she got up suddenly and took a framed photograph down from the mantelpiece. She smiled at it and then at him.
    â€˜When was this taken?’
    â€˜1915.’ He remembered how George had wanted a studio picture of them both in uniform. To please him they had gone to Evans, Society Photographer , and posed in front of a turquoise backdrop that developed as a grey, Flanders sky. Evans posed them standing back-to-back, heads tilted towards each other, arms folded across their chests. Paul had tried hard to keep a straight face, concentrating on the sharpness of Rob’s shoulder blades through the thickness of their tunics. Neither smiled, and because their caps shaded their eyes they didn’t look ironic as they had intended, only fierce. Noble, Evans said, his two noble warriors. Paul had wondered if Evans was queer or just patriotic.
    Margot replaced the picture and sat down. ‘He talked a lot about you.’ Her blush deepened. ‘He told me he never thought he’d see you in uniform.’
    Paul sipped his cocoa, aware that she was watching him. Sitting on the edge of the chair she held her cup in both hands, her face still hectic with colour. Her mouth opened, only to close again. He saw her bite down hard on her lip.
    He said, ‘He called me a fool when I volunteered.’
    â€˜But he was so proud of you …’
    He laughed. ‘I’d just started medical school. Robbie said they needed doctors more than they needed foolhardy boys. Well, he was right. I just couldn’t wait, though. Couldn’t wait. The day that photograph was taken was the happiest of my life. I didn’t care that Rob was angry. He took me for a drink anyway.’
    â€˜Where did you go for a drink?’
    He glanced at her from lighting a cigarette and she smiled slightly. ‘I like to picture him in different places. Make more memories of him, I suppose.’ Staring down into her cocoa she said, ‘Sorry. It must be painful for you to talk about him.’
    â€˜We went to the King’s Head. Afterwards he went into Morgan’s butchers and bought two pork pies and a pound of sausages. We ate the pies on the way home. He had the sausages for breakfast, before he went back to France.’ Looking over his shoulder he said, ‘He stood there, at the stove, pricking the sausages with a fork. His sleeves were rolled up and his braces hung at his sides. Afterwards I walked with him to the station and I didn’t see him again until your party.’
    â€˜He was so pleased you had leave, he even told Daddy.’ She laughed, ‘I think Daddy was expecting Alexander the Great, the way Robbie built you up.’
    â€˜He was disappointed, then.’
    Avoiding his gaze she said, ‘I didn’t know you wanted to be a