Soldiers' Wives

by Fiona Field

  Jenna had a nasty suspicion that he was laughing at her, but said thank you for the lift, rather than flouncing. If things went badly with Lee, she might need another string to her bow, and Dan would fill that role very nicely. What’s more, she reckoned that he’d be very happy to do so. In the meantime, she needed to get her arse over to Coronet Foods and get Barry on her side, too. She flexed her fingers as she got into her car. Nice to know she could still get men to pretty much do what she wanted, but the thing was, did she want to work her magic on Lee? Or might she be better off just cutting her losses?

  31

  ‘Maddy, Maddy.’

  Maddy, on her way back from buying a carton of milk at the Spar after delivering the pie to Jenna, stopped and turned and saw Caro panting after her, dragging Luke by the hand.

  ‘Hiya, Caro.’

  ‘I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about Jenna,’ Caro said accusingly, not bothering to greet either her or Nate, in his pushchair.

  ‘Tell you what?’ lied Maddy. She knew exactly what Caro was on about.

  ‘You must have known, given that Seb was the one who caught her with her knickers off!’

  Maddy feigned innocence with a small shrug.

  Caro gave her a hard stare. ‘Sorry, Maddy, that just won’t wash.’

  ‘Seb swore me to silence.’

  ‘So? Some friend you are. Juiciest bit of gossip on the patch for years and you don’t share. Pah.’

  ‘Anyway,’ said Maddy, refusing to rise, ‘how on earth did you find out?’

  ‘It’s the only topic of conversation at the nursery school. One of the wives saw a strange bloke hightailing out the back of Jenna’s quarter, just after your husband left by the front door, having broken the bad news about Lee. You were right all along, what a piece of work she’s proving to be.’

  Maddy made a moue of agreement. ‘I feel sorry for him. As if it isn’t bad enough to take a bullet, he’s got a wife playing fast and loose.’

  ‘The word is she’s trading up. Someone said the new guy is a sergeant.’

  ‘Nothing but ambitious, is Jenna,’ said Maddy, shaking her head in disapproval. ‘Wouldn’t surprise me if she didn’t aim for an officer next.’

  ‘Ha. Well, if she sets her sights on Will she’ll regret it. And to think I offered her a chance to talk to the Wives’ Club. I cancelled that.’

  Maddy wasn’t surprised. Even Caro wouldn’t keep championing Jenna after that incident.

  When Seb got in at lunchtime, Maddy told him that Caro knew. ‘And before you blame me, I didn’t say a word.’ Seb gave her a disbelieving lift of an eyebrow. ‘No, I didn’t,’ insisted Maddy.

  ‘If you say so.’

  His tone infuriated Maddy. ‘She heard it down at the school gate.’ She repeated the gist of the conversation.

  ‘God, the wives’ grapevine. I swear, when it comes to broadcasting you lot could teach the BBC a thing or two.’

  ‘I’m just telling you, so that I don’t get the blame for spreading rumours.’

  ‘Perkins is due back soon. I heard this morning he’s being medevaced out next week sometime.’

  ‘Then it’s good news. He’s on the mend?’

  ‘Apparently. Don’t envy what he’s coming back to. Alan says Jenna is refusing to go to the hospital in Birmingham because she got a new job, and his mother sounds like a total dragon. I just hope his recovery is really good, because the poor bugger is going to need all the strength he can muster.’

  Jenna pulled into the car park of Coronet Foods and hoped that Barry was in. He should be, as it was coming up to the weekend, and if she knew anything about the catering business – which admittedly wasn’t a great deal – the weekend ought to be their busiest time. She’d considered phoning ahead, but as the company wasn’t much of a detour away from her route home, she’d decided to risk it. She climbed out of her car, locked it and made her way towards his office. Tentatively she knocked on his door.

  ‘Jenna,’ said Barry. He didn’t look particularly pleased to see her, but then she’d let him down over the job. She’d promised she would be available for the next gig after the engagement party at the football club and then, because Lee had gone and got himself shot, she’d had to cry off.

  ‘Just wondering if I’ve still got a job?’ she asked.

  ‘It rather depends,’ said Barry.

  ‘On?’

  ‘How available you are.’

  She nodded. Well, that didn’t come as a surprise. ‘I need the work, Barry.’

  ‘And I need the staff, and I’m really sorry about your husband, but I can’t operate if I can’t rely on having waitresses around when I need them. How is he, by the way?’

  ‘On the mend. Well, out of danger at any rate. And I can be around.’

  Barry looked at her with raised eyebrows. ‘And what about your husband? What about when he’s convalescing?’

  ‘He’s supposed to be flying back, but not till next week, and then he’ll be in hospital for a while and then he’ll need all sorts of other treatment, they say…’

  Barry shook his head. ‘So how will you be available?’

  ‘There isn’t anything I can do for him, is there? It’s not like I can nurse him, is it?’

  ‘But don’t you want to be there, by his bed? Stay with him? I thought that was what army wives were allowed to do these days.’

  ‘If they want.’ She stared coolly at Barry. ‘And I don’t, not really. His mother’ll be there, vile old bat, making out that I’m not good enough and being sarky, giving me evils all the time.’

  ‘But…’ Barry looked completely nonplussed.

  ‘So as there’s nothing I can do, till he comes home I might as well make myself useful and earn a bob or two.’

  ‘I suppose. If you really want to.’

  ‘I do. So, can I have that contract?’

  Barry nodded and slid his office chair across the floor to a low filing cabinet. He pulled open a drawer and fished out some paperwork. ‘But if you sign this, I won’t be able to let you have a mountain of leave when your husband does come home. You do understand that, don’t you? I’m not being hard, but I’ve got a business to run.’

  Jenna nodded. ‘I’m sure he’ll be able to manage on his own for a few hours while I’m out working. Well, he’ll just have to, won’t he?’

  ‘If you say so,’ said Barry. Although his face was still a study in incredulity.

  Taking off, thought Lee as the Globemaster roared into the air, wasn’t half as scary as landing had been, although it was still done in pitch darkness, and the angle was so steep he reckoned that the pilot was trying to escape the pull of earth’s gravity rather than just get airborne. However, he felt pretty relaxed because on take-off, there was nothing solid to hit – like the ground, which was what they’d been aiming at when they’d landed. He reckoned Chrissie would have no need for the sick bag this time, which would be a relief for everyone who knew her. After about ten minutes, the lights came back on and the medics on the flight unstrapped themselves from their seats towards the front of the cavernous space and came towards the back of the aircraft to check on their patients. The stretchers were stacked like bunks, three high along the sides, with the medical equipment for the sicker patients lashed to the metal frame of the aircraft. It might look Heath Robinson, but there was no reduction in the level of care between Bastion and the hospital in Birmingham, regardless of how intensive it needed to be.

  To start with, Lee felt quite lucky to be on the top stretcher. He wasn’t claustrophobic, but from up here he could see what was going on – well, he could now the lights were on again – and he watched Phil as he checked the patients he’d been allocated to make sure they were all comfortable, that those who were connected to monitors were still stable, that nothing untoward had happened during the previous twenty minutes. Then he saw Phil go and sit next to Chrissie – who, as an ambulatory patient, wasn’t stretcher-bound. Suddenly he wasn’t quite so happy to have a grandstand v
iew.

  Once again, he felt a spike of jealousy stick into him. And once again, he bashed it down. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Why did he feel so attracted to her? She had done nothing to encourage him; he was married and yet he’d found himself wondering what his life would have been like if he’d met Chrissie before he’d got hitched to Jenna. He realised he was staring at her again. He really had to stop this obsession; if he didn’t he’d turn into one of those spooky stalkers. He looked away, trying to feel happy for Chrissie that she’d found such a good bloke, for he had no doubt that Phil was. Surely, the fact that Chrissie really rated him was endorsement enough.

  Thankfully, over the previous week, although Chrissie had been a regular visitor, she’d come along on her own, so he hadn’t had to witness again the Chrissie and Phil Show at his bedside. While Chrissie waited for her flight to the UK and cosmetic surgery for the scar on her arm, Phil had been on duty and had rarely dropped by to see him. Lee had been tempted to tell him, on the few occasions he had visited, that he didn’t have to bother, but couldn’t bring himself to be quite that brutal. The guy hadn’t done anything wrong, had he? Instead Lee’d concentrated on trying to be indifferent to his feelings for Chrissie. And if it made him seem a bit cold towards her, then so be it. What the hell did it matter how she viewed him? It wasn’t going to make any difference; she had Phil, and he was stuck with Jenna.

  Yet again, he pulled himself up. He was so out of order, thinking of Jenna in those terms, but he was still mad at her for rinsing his savings. And she hadn’t answered her phone when he’d rung – so where was she? What was she doing that made her out of contact every evening? He didn’t want to think badly of her, but what else could he think?

  Slowly, almost all the activity on the aircraft came to a halt. As with all passenger flights, as opposed to cargo ones, they’d taken off well after dark, to minimise the chances of an enemy attack, and now that it was gone midnight the patients and non-essential staff were grabbing some sleep. The white noise of the giant jet engines was kind of soothing and the dim green light was restful, and soon Lee found himself slipping into a doze and then sleep. But it was a sleep dogged by weird dreams, involving Jenna and Chrissie, and when he awoke again, as the plane was buffeted by turbulence, it was almost a relief.

  Phil was also awake and came over to check if Lee needed anything.

  ‘A drink would be good,’ he said.

  ‘Water?’

  ‘I’d rather have a beer.’

  Phil shook his head. ‘Sorry, buddy, no can do – even if you weren’t on meds, this is a dry flight.’

  ‘Water it is then.’

  Phil went to fetch a cup and a straw and brought it back to Lee. He held the cup while Lee slaked his thirst.

  ‘I’ve been meaning to ask,’ said Lee. ‘Is there any news of Johnny Flint?’

  ‘Flint?’

  ‘Yeah, the guy who got his foot blown off, same time as I picked up this.’ Lee glanced down at his bandaged shoulder.

  ‘Oh, him. He was stabilised and sent back almost immediately so, sorry, I can’t help. But there’s been nothing to say that he isn’t all right.’

  ‘Being minus a foot is hardly all right, though, is it?’ It came out harsher than Lee intended.

  ‘He’s in the best hands,’ said Phil placatingly. He offered Lee more water, and then went to check on some other patients, before sitting down next to Chrissie again.

  Lee watched them chatting, wishing that it was him in Phil’s place. Maybe Chrissie picked up his thought subliminally, for she suddenly turned and looked back at him. Even across the width of the aircraft, he could see her blush. Lee made a private bet they were talking about him. The thought made him even crankier.

  What was the matter with me? he wondered. He put it down to lack of sleep, but he knew it wasn’t just that. No matter how much he tried to deny it, he knew he’d fallen for Chrissie and he didn’t want to go home to Jenna.

  32

  Jenna crawled into her quarter at about eleven thirty at night, dead on her feet. The job at Coronet Foods might pay reasonably for casual work, and the tips were a nice bonus, but it was knackering. How come her feet had never ached like this when she was a hairdresser? Now she had to move around all evening, not stand in one place, they killed her. And she had another job tomorrow, so by the time she got to the weekend, her feet were going to be in tatters. Maybe she’d pop into town in the morning and try and buy some shoes that didn’t pinch anywhere. She’d hoped she’d get used to being on her feet, rushing around for hours at a stretch, but it wasn’t getting any easier – worse, if anything. She was pleased she had this work, really she was, but it was playing havoc with her social life. How was she ever supposed to get out and have a good time if she was going to have to work every weekend?

  Wearily she took her phone from her handbag and switched it on again. While she waited for it to connect and find a signal, she grabbed a bottle of white wine from the fridge and poured herself a large glass. On the counter her mobile gave a series of chirps. Six missed calls – all from the same number, a number she didn’t recognise. But she also had voicemail. She hit the screen to call up the messages. If it was some spammer she’d be livid.

  ‘Hi, sweetheart. Just to say I’ve landed safely at Birmingham. I’m now in hospital. Mum’s here, Captain Fanshaw’s coming up in the week, but it’s you I really want to see. I guess you’re busy, that’s why you’re not answering…’ Well done, Sherlock, what a bit of deduction that was. There was a pause. Lee was obviously trying to think of something else mind-blowing to say. ‘I’ll ring again tomorrow. Take care.’

  Jenna chucked her phone onto one of the sofas. Oh God, as if she didn’t have enough on her plate with this job, now, to cap it all, Lee expected her to hike all the way up to Birmingham. But Lee’s direct request was going to be harder to ignore than Alan Milward bleating to her that she had a duty to welcome him home. Milward had phoned twice earlier that week, telling her about Lee’s flight and almost ordering her to go and see him. As if it was any of his bloody business. And the more he’d badgered her, the more stubborn and contrary she’d felt. Eventually he’d got the hint and hung up, but he’d left her feeling even more angry with the army. They had no right to order her about, tell her what she should and shouldn’t do and tell her how she ought to behave towards her husband.

  And now Lee had joined in. She sighed heavily. The thought of his mother and a hospital visit was almost more than flesh and blood could stand. She hated them both with equal intensity, and the thought of both activities being joined into one fuck-awful day trip was too much. Well, she couldn’t do it tomorrow – she had to be back for an event starting at six, so she’d be needed for the set-up from around four thirty. No way was she going to drive all that distance for just an hour or so of playing Florence Bloody Nightingale. And the next day would be no better. The M25 and the M6 on a Friday…? He had to be joking. Maybe she’d think about going up there on Sunday. Or maybe not.

  Seb strolled into the military wing of Queen Elizabeth hospital and gave his name to the receptionist. He’d been astounded by the hospital’s architecture as he’d driven into the car park – three towering, oval, shiny glass-and-steel buildings – and he just hoped, as he waited to be told where to find Lee Perkins, that the inside was as good as the outside. The area he was in, while still recognisable as part of the NHS, with blue signs directing patients and visitors to every conceivable type of clinic and treatment centre, was more like a military unit when it came to the dress code, and he was far from out of place in his combats. All around him were medical staff, in various types of services uniform: army QA nurses, discussing notes with air force doctors, naval consultants talking to injured soldiers, with some dressed in multicam and some in barrack dress. Only the number of civvy staff made it more like a normal hospital, which, Seb supposed, it was. It certainly sounded and smelt like one: squeaky clean floors, low voices, blips from machinery, the clang of trolleys being moved ab
out…

  The receptionist directed him to the military trauma department – follow the yellow line painted on the floor – and a couple of minutes later Seb was strolling onto the ward. The beds were in a mixture of single bunks and four-man bays, and Seb tried hard not to stare at some of the more grotesque injuries as he passed: the burns, the missing limbs, the scars, the disfigurements… Partly because he didn’t want the guys to think he was enjoying some sort of freak show, but mostly because he’d witnessed a couple of dreadful incidents on his own tour out there and had spent the past twelve months trying to crowbar the images out of his head. He didn’t want to stuff new ones back in. It always amazed him how the medics coped – the things they saw, the things they treated and the pain they witnessed. How on earth did they manage to sleep? He knew he couldn’t. He knew, in the past, he hadn’t.

  He found Lee looking surprisingly bright and chipper. On the other side of the bed was a large woman with a mouth like a steel trap and glittering eyes which looked as if they rarely missed anything. If this was Lee’s mother, Seb could see exactly why she and Jenna were hardly likely to see eye-to-eye.

  ‘Hiya, buddy,’ he said easily to Lee. Now was not the moment for parade square formality.

  ‘Hello, boss. Good to see you.’

  ‘I don’t want to interrupt…’ Seb glanced at Lee’s mum.

  ‘Sorry, boss, this is my mum, Sonia – Sonia Perkins. Mum, this is my boss from the barracks back here, Captain Fanshaw.’

  ‘But call me Seb,’ said Seb, holding out his hand to Sonia Perkins.

  She shook it. ‘I don’t think that would be right, Captain Fanshaw,’ she said in a broad Geordie accent. ‘I’m old-fashioned that way. My late husband was military and he wouldn’t have approved.’ Then she stood up. ‘I expect you lads want to talk shop, and I need a tea and some fresh air, like.’