by James Philip
“Thirdly,” Marija had advised him, “you must never write to me again.”
Fortuitously, Phoebe had broken off the engagement a few days later.
If he stopped writing to Marija a part of him, possibly, the best part of him would have withered and died. He’d literally, have rather cut off his right arm than lose Marija for if he had a soul mate in this world it was Marija Elizabeth Calleja.
The breach with Phoebe had been this time last year and he’d become a monastic figure in the months since. Then, just before they’d sailed from Chatham the news had come through that in March next year Talavera was to relieve her sister ship, HMS Agincourt, and commence a two year attachment with the 7th Destroyer Squadron in Malta.
Peter hadn’t had time to dash off a letter to Marija with the good news before they’d sailed. March was still a long way off and there would be plenty of time to compose a proper, serious and suitably restrained epistle communicating the future movements of Her Majesty’s Ship Talavera. Three days ago there had seemed to be all the time in the world. All the time in the world to contemplate the depth and the true nature of his feelings for the woman whom he’d never met but to whom he felt inextricably linked.
And then the world had gone mad.
Malta was Headquarters of the Mediterranean Fleet, a prime target for Soviet medium range ballistic missiles in Bulgaria and the Balkans, and nuclear bombers based in the Ukraine and the Crimea. Even now Malta might be a scorched radioactive desert, uninhabitable for generations.
No, no, no...
However, it seems to me that no matter how bad things are we cannot afford to give in. If we despair then we are lost. While we survive, while Talavera and my crewmates survive we owe it to ourselves to be worthy of surviving.
Everything has changed but some things remain the same. You have always been and will always remain my best friend in the world and the one person I trust above all others. As I write I am looking at your picture. While I look at your face I can still believe that there is hope.
If we both live please wait for me because I am on my way to you.
[The End]
Author’s Endnote
Thank you again for reading Timeline 10/27/62 – Book 1: Operation Anadyr. I hope you enjoyed it - or if you didn’t, sorry - but either way, thank you for reading and helping to keep the printed word alive. Remember, civilisation depends on people like you.
Love is Strange, the sequel to Operation Anadyr is also available on Kindle. Book 3 in the series, The Pillars of Hercules and Book 4, Red Dawn will be published in 2015.
Other Books by James Philip
The Timeline 10/27/62 Series
Book 1: Operation Anadyr
Book 2: Love is Strange
Book 3: The Pillars of Hercules
Book 4: Red Dawn (Available 1st May 2015)
Book 5: The Burning Time (Available 1st August 2015)
The Guy Winter Mysteries
Prologue: Winter’s Pearl
Book 1: Winter’s War
Book 2: Winter’s Revenge
Book 3: Winter’s Exile (Available 27th February 2015)
Book 4: Winter’s Return (Available 2015)
World War II Novel
Until the Night
The Strangers Bureau Series
Book 1: Interlopers
Book 2: Pictures of Lily
The Harry Waters Series
Book 1: Islands of No Return
Book 2: Heroes
Book 3: Brothers in Arms
Book 4: It Says Here (Available 2015)
The Frankie Ransom Series
Book 1: A Ransom for Two Roses
Book 2: The Plains of Waterloo
Book 3: The Nantucket Sleighride
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Details of all James Philip’s books and forthcoming publications
will be found on his website www.jamesphilip.co.uk