It Started With A Note. Victoria Cooke

Chapter Nineteen

      

       Chapter Twenty

      

       Chapter Twenty-One

      

       Chapter Twenty-Two

      

       Chapter Twenty-Three

      

       Chapter Twenty-Four

      

       Chapter Twenty-Five

      

       Chapter Twenty-Six

      

       Chapter Twenty-Seven

      

       Chapter Twenty-Eight

      

       Chapter Twenty-Nine

      

       Chapter Thirty

      

       Chapter Thirty-One

      

       Chapter Thirty-Two

      

       Chapter Thirty-Three

      

       Chapter Thirty-Four

      

       Chapter Thirty-Five

      

       Chapter Thirty-Six

      

       One Year Later …

      

       Acknowledgements

      

       Extract

       Dear Reader

       Thank You for Reading!

       Keep Reading…

      

       About the Publisher

       For my great-grandfather, Private Thomas Edward Fitton, who served with the 1st Battalion in the Borders Regiment and was killed in action on 1/7/1916 in the Somme Valley aged 24.

       And, my grandmother Rose (his daughter) who was six years old when he was taken from her by the Great War. She became a much-loved grandmother who always had time for her grandchildren.

       ***

       In loving memory of my grandad, Kenneth Taylor Cooke, (1926–2018) a Second World War Royal Marine, spared from fighting the Japanese in the Pacific as the war ended during his training. Grandad is remembered for his bravery, patience, kindness, generosity and love.

       Rain

      Rain, midnight rain, nothing but the wild rain

      On this bleak hut, and solitude, and me

      Remembering again that I shall die

      And neither hear the rain nor give it thanks

      For washing me cleaner than I have been

      Since I was born into this solitude.

      Blessed are the dead that the rain rains upon:

      But here I pray that none whom once I loved

      Is dying to-night or lying still awake

      Solitary, listening to the rain,

      Either in pain or thus in sympathy

      Helpless among the living and the dead,

      Like a cold water among broken reeds,

      Myriads of broken reeds all still and stiff,

      Like me who have no love which this wild rain

      Has not dissolved except the love of death,

      If love it be towards what is perfect and

      Cannot, the tempest tells me, disappoint.

       Edward Thomas, 1916

       Chapter One

      I clutch the envelope tightly to my chest – so tightly, in fact, my nails tear into the crumpled paper, which has been softened by my sweaty palm and the relentless downpour. I release my grip slightly. It’s too precious to damage, but I’m so scared of losing it. I feel like one of those mad scientists in a James Bond film who has developed a mini nuclear warhead and has to transport it somewhere with the utmost care to avoid detonating it at the wrong time. I’m not sure comparing myself to a villain is wholly accurate, though. Perhaps I should have laid it on a velvet pillow or something, like a prince carrying a glass slipper. Yes, that’s better – a prince, not a villain. A princess? I shouldn’t be in charge of something like this.

      As I scurry down the high street, the eyes of passers-by rouse suspicion. Do they know what I have? Are they after me? I walk faster, heart pounding. It’s difficult because my bloody shoes are killing me. Pleather. Man-made leather. Plastic-leather pleather sandals – a bargain at £12.99, but seriously, I’ve already spent double that on plasters for all the blisters they’ve given me.

      The quicker I walk, the harder my bag-for-life bashes into my legs. Dented tins of peas, beans, stew and whatever else I’d salvaged from the ‘whoops’ shelf after work all unleash their fury on my shins. It isn’t uncommon for certain staff members to accidentally-on-purpose cause a few whoopsies