Chapter
8
The
winter cold soon turned to spring, the tree out in the driveway blossomed with
bright pink flowers, newly born lambs slowly walked around the fields with
their mothers. Back at the house Jennifer and Lindsey were in their room
packing a suitcase, Lindsey was singing to herself,
"I
get to go London to see my Dad at war, to see my Dad at war"
"Lindsey
please" Jennifer said
"Sorry,
I'm just so excited to see Dad" Lindsey replied
"Me
too, I can't wait" they both smiled and giggled at each other,
"Right
are you both ready to go" Martin entered the room
"Yes
all packed" Jennifer said closing the suitcase.
They
all headed down to the train station to catch the train to London, Chrissie who
had never been on a train before was very excited. As it pulled up she jumped
up and down. They boarded the train at the nearest carriage and sat down.
Chrissie kept looking out of the window, eyes filled with amassment,
"You'd
think she had never seen the country before" Jennifer said looking at her,
"Actually
she's never been on a train before" Ellie told her
"Oh
right"
They
arrived in London and headed straight to where Ian was staying,
"Dad"
Lindsey shouted and ran up to her dad and gave him a big hug,
"Hello
beautiful" he said hugging her tightly
"I
missed you Dad"
"I've
missed you to sweetheart"
"Hi
Dad" Jennifer hugged Ian who then hugged his son,
"Hi
son" he said
"Hi
Dad, how's things"
"There
good, a bit emotional out there. I pray to God you don't end up out there, it's
the one place where I would hate you to be"
"Dad,
I hope I don't either, they really need me at the farm"
"I
know" Ian turned to Nicky "Oh Nicky come here, I am so, so
sorry" he gave her a big hug
"Thank
you Ian" Nicky smiled. Ian turned to Nicky's children and smiled,
"And
how are you three"
"We're
fine thank you Ian" Ellie replied.
They
all went and sat down in a cafe just down the road from where Ian was staying,
"Yes
we will have two pots of tea and four glasses of orange juice please" Ellie
said as they all sat down at a large table,
"So
what's new with everyone" Ian asked
"Well
Dad, erm, me and Ellie are a couple now" Martin told his dad,
"Really,
that's great" Ian hugged his son again and also hugged Ellie "this is
great news, we were always hoping you two would get together" he smiled.
They
all had a great talk and told Ian everything that happened to them from Ellie
talking over the shop to Chrissies birthday,
"So
after signing the contracts for the shop I am now a shop owner" Ellie
finished
"And
I help out" Jennifer put in with a smile,
"Jenny
that's great to hear" Ian congratulated his daughter,
"Yes
it is, it means I'm on hand at the farm instead of in the village" Martin
told Ian,
"I'm
just going to pop to the lady's room" Nicky said as she got up,
"So
how's she doing" Ian asked after Nicky had walked off,
"
Not good, she keeps spacing out every now and again and spends all day everyday
tending to the vegetable garden, it's why Jenny is now helping down at the shop
so Martin is working on the farm otherwise we both are exhausted all the
time" Ellie said
"She
keeps saying she's going to try harder but she never does" Martin put in
"Wow
I know how you all feel and how Nicky feels..."
"Ian
we know you don't have to explain"
"Nicky
returned to the table,
"So
what are we all talking about" she asked, everyone gave an awkward look,
"Ellie"
a voice from behind said "oh my god it is you"
"Brenda"
Ellie jumped up when she saw her friend and gave her a big hug "how are
you"
"I'm
fine, hey there's a table come talk to me before Cameron gets here"
"Is
he the soldier"
"Yes,
so catch up time"
Ellie
looked at her family,
"Ellie
go, it's fine" Martin said encouraging her. Ellie and Brenda sat at a
nearby table and talked over everything
that had happened
"
Ellie I'm so sorry I couldn't be there to support you or even just to
talk"
"It's
ok, I've had Martin around, he's so amazing, he's so supportive and has taken
on the farm full time"
"Wow
that's great, are you still working at the shop with Mrs. Fleming"
"Well
actually she has handed the whole shop to me"
"Wow
Ellie, that's great, is Mrs Fleming ok" Brenda asked
"She
died two weeks ago"
"Oh
Ellie I'm so sorry"
"It's
ok, I knew she was dying, she told me when she gave me the shop" Brenda
hugged her best friend.
Ellie
looked out of the window of her hotel room, London looked just the same as it
did before the war even though it had been bombed a few times by the enemy,
"Hey
beautiful" Martin appeared behind her
"Hey
sweetie" Ellie walked towards him and kissed him, he kissed her back and
put his arms round her.
They
woke up the next morning, the sun was peeking through the curtains as they lied
next to each other in bed. Martin stroked Ellie's arm and kissed her shoulder,
the moment was perfect so peaceful and warm. Ellie looked at the clock on the
wall, it was only two hours before they had to catch their train back home, she
snuggled up against Martin and gave a little smile.
Walking
towards the train station Ian told Lindsey not to worry about him as she was
now starting to get worked up again like she did before Ian went to war,
"But
dad what if a bomb gets dropped on you or you get shot or, or..."
"Lindsey
I will be fine I promise and even if I do get shot or something like that doesn't
mean I'm going to die" he knelt down to her level "Lindsey I promise
I won't die"
"Yes
but Chrissie's dad did, anything can happen"
"I
know sweetheart, I know" he gave his daughter a hug.
They
approached Kings Cross station in time for their train. Ian waved them off.
Lindsey sat in silence the whole way home, she sat staring out of the window
wanting to cry. Martin sat next to her and put his arm round her, she collapsed
against him and started crying,
"Come
on Lindsey it's ok" he told her
"Here
you go Lindsey" Chrissie gave her a tissue
"Thank
you Chrissie" Lindsey dried her eyes as the train raced ahead towards
home.
It
was raining by the time they reached Lintwood Village. They all walked home
carrying their suitcase through the pouring rain up the road to the farm. As
they approached the house Meg started to bark and jump up at the window, Ellie
let everyone in though the front door. Meg jump up at them all,
"Meg
down" Chrissie told her "good girl" she gave her a pat as she
calmed down. Martin put the fire on in the living room whilst everyone else
changed into dry clothes. Ellie went into the kitchen to find a note from Farmer
Michaels from the meat farm a few fields
over who had kindly been looking after the animals whilst both families has
been in London,
"Who's
Farmer Michaels" Martin asked,
"He's
the farmer who's been looking after our animals the past few days, he owns the
meat farm a few fields over"
"Ah
right" Martin put the kettle out the stove,
"Yeah
he's very generous with his offers when buying our sheep unlike other
farmers" Ellie told him "Martin are you going to get changed"
she asked
"Yes
after everyone else is sorted" he kissed her
"Martin
you will catch a cold, go get changed, I've got everything covered down
here" she told him
"Are
you sure"
"Yes
now go get changed" Martin smiled at her and left the room to go get
changed. Ellie made everyone cup of tea
or hot cocoa to warm everyone up,
"Yay
Hot Coco" Chrissie said excitedly "thank you Ellie" Ellie handed
out the cups and put Martins on the coffee table. She went back into the
kitchen to make dinner,
"What's
for dinner sweetheart" Nicky asked coming into the kitchen
"Left
over's" Ellie replied
"Shall
I set the table"
"No
it's ok, I'm going to let them eat on their knee tonight"
"Ok
is there anything I can do"
"No
Mum it's fine, I'm ok" Ellie smiled at her mum as she left the room.
"Hey
is everything ok" Martin walked into the kitchen
"Everything's
fine" Ellie replied kissing him, he put his arms around her and held her
tight "I made you a cup of tea, it's in the living room with the other,
"Thank
you beautiful" Martin kissed her on the forehead and left the room. Ellie
carried on making dinner, she reached for the cupboard and took out seven
plates and dished up dinner,
"Dinner
time" she said walking through to the living room "you can eat on
your knee tonight"
"Thank
you Ellie" they all said
"Can
we put the radio on please" Jennifer asked
"Of
course" Ellie replied
Jennifer
put on the radio and they all listened to a comedy show as the ate. Martin
cleared up after dinner as everyone else set up a card game for everyone to
play,
"Can
we play snap please" Chrissie asked
"No
let's play Gin" Louis said
"Can
we play Blackjack or Poker" Jennifer put in
"
How about we see how many games we can get though" Ellie said
"starting with Fish". They all sat down and started to play, Martin
came back in half way through the first game of Fish.
By
ten o'clock Chrissie and Lindsey were nearly asleep
"Right
I think it's time for bed" Nicky said, she got up and started to guide
Chrissie and Lindsey to bed. Everyone else followed. Martin tooked his sisters
into bed and told them that everything would be alright,
"Dad's
going to be fine you know and if he does get hurt then they will bring him home
to recover and I'm not going anywhere ok I promise" Lindsey and Jennifer
smiled and closed their eyes to go to sleep. Martin left their room and went to
see Ellie,
"Hey
Beautiful" he said as he made his way towards her bed,
"Hey
sweetie" he sat next to her "how are you feeling after seeing your
dad" Ellie asked,
"I'm
fine, I understand what is going on and why he has to go out there but Lindsey
and Jenny don't especially Lindsey she's too young"
"Martin
I know, it is so hard, it's the same with Chrissie" Martin had taken her
hand and softly caressed it,
"I
didn't know how hard it was going to be, we weren't around for the great
war" Ellie said leaning against Martin's shoulder,
"I
know"
"You
think with my Mum around things would be a little bit easier and it was but
then dad died and things got so much harder and I don't know what to do anymore"
"Everything
is going to be ok Ellie I promise, you've got me now and I'm not going
anywhere" Martin kissed Ellie and put his arm around her. They both
settled in to Ellie's bed and fell asleep.
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