other plans. He thrashed about wildly, vying for his father’s attention, and we had to release one another before a small foot could kick us in the eye.
Tom laughed at his antics and took the boy to him, spinning him over his head and dropping him onto his broad shoulders. He picked up his duffle with one free hand and took my hand in the other. ‘Let’s get out of here,’ he said huskily.
I nodded, smiling at the twinkle of lust in his eyes.
Our way home took us through Aldershot and as I drove past the army barracks I glanced over and saw Tom’s face harden.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Later. I’ll tell you later,’ he replied quietly.
We had been living on the outskirts of Aldershot ever since we were married and it had been convenient at the time as that was where he had been stationed. From the look on Tom’s face I now wondered if the area might now carry too many painful memories for him. For my part I had always been happy here, but apparently the same was no longer true for my husband and I knew that I would have to broach the subject with him.
The excitement of the outing to meet his father had worn Jason out and he now lay slumped in his booster seat in the rear of the car. When we pulled up outside our small semidetached house I was particularly careful to make sure that he didn’t awaken as I unbuckled the seatbelt and carried him inside.
We placed him in his cot still fully clothed and I pulled a blanket over his sleeping form. I kissed his forehead and then stepped back as Tom took my place at the cot side and leaned in to do the same.
I ran my hand up over Tom’s back as he was doing so and felt his muscles contract. He stood up and turned to me while I moved easily into his embrace. Our kissing became more ardent and our hands reached out to touch one another in the most intimate way.
We finally broke free of one another and I took Tom by the hand, leading him from Jason’s room and into our own. ‘I’ve missed you so much,’ I breathed into his ear as he bent me over our bed.
‘I’ll try not to do that to you ever again,’ he replied.
I tried to grasp the meaning of his words, but our passions defeated me and I gave myself over to the pleasure of having the man I love driving himself deep within me.
That evening my mother arrived from Henswytch and I was glad that Tom and I had had the opportunity to sate our passions in private. I didn’t fancy facing my mother’s knowing smirk after overhearing our lovemaking through the house’s thin walls. Her inevitable questions as to when I was going to present her with another grandchild was galling enough without the actual evidence that we may be trying to do just that.
Over supper my mother dominated the conversation as usual as she brought us up to date on the goings-on in the village, everything from the supposed affair of Henswytch’s aging dentist with the recently widowed doctor’s wife to the price the village’s farmers were getting for their vegetables at market. Nothing was too small to be overlooked in my mother’s eyes. Occasionally she would ask a question regarding Jason or myself, but for the most part our lives were inconsequential in the greater scheme of life in Henswytch.
Tom tried manfully to stay alert and I tried to help by rubbing my bare foot up and down his inner thigh as he sat opposite me at the table, but I could see that he was totally disinterested in my mother’s tales and far more interested in the football game that was silently flickering on the TV screen behind my head.
Finally, my mother’s tales became too trivial for even me to feign interest and I called a halt to proceedings, insisting that Tom and I had a long trip ahead of us the next day and that we would need our rest.
Unconvinced, my mother gave me a knowing smile before retiring to the bed we had set up for her in Jason’s small room.
The following morning, a giggling Jason was packed into his doting grandmother’s car along with enough clothes and toys to keep him amused for a month.
‘You’ll be back this time next week?’ she asked.
‘That’s right. We’ll come down and pick him up as soon as we land.’
‘I’ll see you then, and while you’re gone do me a favour. Throw those silly tablets of yours away. I want another grandchild.’
Tom blushed.
My mother smiled broadly at his discomfort. ‘And you must learn to “entertain” one another more quietly. I couldn’t sleep a wink last night with that hullabaloo going on in your bedroom.’
Waving cheerily, she drove off, leaving me with a bemused expression on my face. My footwork on Tom’s thigh the previous evening had produced a result that had pleased us both, but Tom and I thought we had gone to extraordinary lengths the night before to keep our lovemaking quiet. Oh well! I thought to myself, Maybe all that noise had the desired effect and I could finally keep my mother happy by announcing that I was pregnant again.
Whatever the result, we flew out that afternoon for a week of sun, sand and very noisy sex, in Spain.
‘I always love our times out here,’ I sighed as I sipped at a glass of ruby red wine.
On the table between us lay an enormous plate that had contained a pile of seafood but was now nearly empty. My stomach was full and after a long swim, a sunbake and a love-filled siesta I was overflowing with the joys of life. The world couldn’t be better and even Tom seemed to be returning to his normal outgoing self. He still hadn’t unburdened himself to me, but I could tell by the signs that the talk would begin and it would begin sooner rather than later.
In fact it came much sooner than I expected.
We had paid for our meal and were walking hand in hand along the waterfront in the soft light of the early evening when he began to describe what had happened in Iraq. I was shocked at most of the details and surprised that the newspapers and television hadn’t picked up on the story. Tom had snorted when I said this. ‘A few more lives lost out there wouldn’t hold the public’s attention for more than a few seconds, so it probably wasn’t worth reporting.’
‘That’s cruel!’
‘Yes, it is. But it’s a fact. Maybe they would have covered the story if they were told what those bastards did to the lieutenant and the trooper.’
‘What do you mean? They killed them didn’t they?’
‘The lieutenant was lucky. He died quickly. The trooper was less fortunate. We didn’t see it, but our shots took out a few of their people and they took their revenge on him for that.’
‘What did they do?’ I asked, not really wanting to know.
Tom shook his head. ‘Let’s just say he died a long, hard death. When the rangers rescued him he was still alive, but he didn’t survive the trip back to base. I suspect a ranger may have helped him out of his misery.’
‘That’s horrible!’ I exclaimed.
‘It’s the sort of war that’s being waged out there.’
‘And you want to go back?’
Tom stood still and turned to me. ‘That’s what I want to tell you. Some of the men don’t think I did enough to help the trooper. They won’t work with me. I’m not going back and to tell you the truth I couldn’t care less. The whole incident taught me that what I was doing out there was not the same as being in the forces. It’s all about making profits and not about doing a good job and helping the Iraqi people find a better life. That’s not the way I am. If I’m going to risk my life it has to