Read GI Brides: The Wartime Girls Who Crossed the Atlantic for Love for Free Online

perfection.
    â€˜I have an appointment at one,’ he told her, in the sing-song accent of the American South, ‘but I see your boss has found something more interesting to do. Can’t say I blame him.’
    â€˜Can I get you a cup of coffee while you’re waiting?’ she asked.
    â€˜Would it be troubling you too much to ask for a cup of tea?’ he replied. Seeing her surprise, he added, ‘I got used to drinking it when I was in the Canadian Army.’
    â€˜What were you doing with the Canadians?’ Margaret asked.
    The man told her how, frustrated by America’s neutrality at the outbreak of war, he, along with other men from his native Georgia, had gone up to Ottawa to join the Canadian Active Service Force. ‘They’re more British than the British,’ he said. ‘Tea five times a day, and every house and car has the words “There’ll always be an England” in the window!’
    Margaret laughed, for a moment forgetting her misery over Taylor Drysdale. Her boss soon came back from lunch, and the captain disappeared into his office. But on his way out, he stopped at Margaret’s desk again.
    â€˜Would you do me the honour of accompanying me to dinner Wednesday night?’ he asked.
    Margaret was about to say no. Since Taylor, she had lost all interest in other men, and while the captain was perfectly pleasant-looking, he was no tall, chiselled Adonis. He was of medium height, and although he had very dark, striking brown eyes, they were set in quite a large face, and there was a scar across his nose.
    But she liked his manners, which were those of a Southern gentleman and made him seem rather old-fashioned, even though he couldn’t have been more than thirty. Then she had a thought that made up her mind: if she went out with the captain and Taylor got to hear of it, he might feel jealous and try to get her back.
    â€˜Certainly,’ she said, with a winning smile.
    The following week she accompanied Captain Lawrence McCaskill Rambo to Kettner’s restaurant in Soho. It was a glamorous place, with mirrored, panelled walls and a pianist tinkling away in the corner, and Margaret felt a stab of longing as she thought how good she and Taylor would have looked there together.
    Lawrence was the perfect gentleman, however, pulling out her chair and ordering for them both. As they ate he regaled her with stories about his time in the Canadian forces. ‘They told us you can’t get seasick in a hammock, because it rolls with the ship,’ he said. ‘Well, I can tell you, it’s an outrageous lie! Three of the men were hanging so far over the rails being sick that their false teeth are now sitting on the Atlantic seabed!’
    Margaret learned how, after arriving in Britain, Lawrence had been sent to the Scottish highlands with the Forestry Corps. ‘Now, this is a Georgia boy who thought thirty degrees was a cold day,’ he said, shivering at the memory.
    â€˜So, how did you end up in the American Army?’ she asked him.
    â€˜Well, when Uncle Sam finally decided to join the war, I was shipped back to America,’ he told her. ‘I was so darn angry I threw my papers overboard before we got into New York, hoping they’d send me back to England. Sure enough they did, but when I arrived they wouldn’t let me off here either. I went back and forth across that ocean six times!’
    Margaret was soon in tears of laughter. The captain was clearly quite a storyteller, and he certainly seemed to be enjoying himself, laughing loudly at the end of each tale, even though he hadn’t had a drop of wine. What he lacked in looks he made up for in confidence and charisma, and she felt she could listen to him talk all night. Afterwards, she went back with him to his flat in Kensington and did her best to lose herself in his embrace, trying to block out thoughts of her previous boyfriend.
    The next day at the office, however,