Maid Elizabeth

November 1942

"My Darling Beth

I can't tell you where we are but I can say we're all all right and will be in here in Dock for a couple of days. I think about you all the time. It helps me get through.

Anyway, I was able to get ashore yesterday and I might have done something silly. That'll depend on you. You see, I bought a ring. What I'm trying to say, my love, is that I'd be the happiest man in the world if you'll agree to be my wife.

I know I'm supposed to go down on one knee and to ask your Dad's permission and all that but it's a bit difficult when I'm so far away. So I'll just kneel down now and pray you say yes.

With all my heart,

Jack"

Beth clutched the letter to her breast and danced around the kitchen. "He wants to marry me! He wants to marry me!" Her mother looked up from the pastry she was making. She was about to make some cautionary remark but the pure joy radiating from Beth overcame her. She felt her heart melting and hugged her daughter close. "Of course he does, the boy's not a fool! I'm so happy for you, darling. I mean, you are going to say yes?"

"Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" Beth still twirled like a dervish, the letter held in both hands, now, at arm's length.

"I love him, Mummy; I always have. I think I've loved him since I was twelve. Oh I do wish this war would end and we can be together always."

August 1943

"I now pronounce you man and wife. Er, you may kiss the bride."

It has all been arranged in a rush. Jack's leave had come unexpectedly. 'Speedwell' had thrown her propellor shaft out of alignment and had limped into Liverpool four days before. Since then it had all been a whirl; the special licence secured, the church arranged, his parents summoned to London. And there had been the matter of the interview with his Captain to request permission to marry.

Jack had four days' leave for the wedding. One had been consumed by a torturous journey from Liverpool to London - a matter of four hours in peacetime but three times that now, with stops for air raids and higher priority traffic. The second day had been spent in feverish preparations, the third was set aside for the wedding. He knew that the last day would have to be spent travelling back. He groaned inwardly at the thought that they would have only a brief few hours together before that great relentless, all-devouring beast, the war, claimed him again.

The reception had been brief. Rationing prevented much in the way of a wedding feast but the spirit was the same heady mixture of joy and hope and relief. They had blushed at the innuendo-laden speech of Tom Piper, the Best Man and toasted the King with all solemnity. Jack's mother had shed a tear and her father had enveloped Beth in a huge bear-hug, welcoming her to the family. Now they were alone the small hotel room Jack had been able to procure near Euston Station.

"We'll do it properly one day," he said. "I dunno, maybe go to Scotland or someplace like that." Beth wasn't sure where someplace like Scotland might be but she nodded happily anyway.

"Jack, my love, it doesn't matter where, it only matters who. And the 'who' that matters is you. We're married now and we'll be together always, won't we?"

"Come hell or high water, girl, we'll be together."

The bed stood behind them like a huge question mark. Their love, until this moment, had had no physical expression. They had kissed and hugged but that was all. Now Beth felt suddenly shy and Jack, seeing this steal over her face in a rising suffusion of pink, was overcome by a feeling of great tenderness, combined with a nameless dread. His throat constricted and he had the urge to run while feeling deep within him, a sense of rising need. He reached a tentative hand towards her face and gently stroked her cheek. A small tear glistened beneath one eye and he smoothed it away with a thumb.

He wrapped her softly in his arms and kissed her hair. Her heart hammered against her ribs and he felt the rapid beating against his chest. He bent his head and kissed her face and she angled her head until her mouth met his. The sweetness in her kiss held a hint of something else and he felt his cock stir. Beth felt it too and turned her hips to press herself against it. Her kisses now were full of hunger and she could feel a spreading heat in her lower belly. Her hips seemed to be moving involuntarily as she ground against him. She was consumed with the need of him. She craved the weight of his body upon her and the burgeoning thickness she could feel pressing into her belly seemed to send sparks through her whole being.

Her voice was husky as she whispered "Now Jack, I want you now." They undressed quickly and clumsily, Jack falling as he tugged at his trousers, having forgotten first to remove his shoes. Their laughter defused the intensity and they could slip between the cold sheets grinning like naughty children. Jack moved to switch off the lamp but she stayed his hand, whispering, "No, I want to see, my love." Beth gazed at his body. The pale skin of his torso contrasted sharply with the weather-beaten arms and face. His erection rose like a ruddy tower out of the tangle of tight curls and she gasped. 'Oh God, will it fit?' she thought and jumped as his hand found her breast, sending electricity speeding from her hardened nipple to the junction of her thighs. Jack felt a deep awe. The smoothness of her skin was like satin under his calloused fingers as he trailed down her flanks and over the swell of her hip. He moved his mouth to capture one dusky pink nipple and moaned with the force of the emotion that surged within him. He thought his heart would burst, it felt so full of love and wonder.

Beth arched her back and seized his hand, pushing it from her hip towards the sweet fire burning between her legs. She gave a small scream as his fingers probed between the dewy lips and brushed her clitoris.

"Now Jack, now!"

"Oh, yes!"

"Oh my God!"

"My love, my love"

"Ahhh!!"

"Oh Christ, I'm sorry."

"Don't stop! If you stop I'll ... Ohhh!!!"

"I love you so much"

"Oh, Jack, pleasssee!!!!!"

"Yes."

"Oh yes, yes, yes, YESSS!!!!"

He lay back panting and hugged her against his chest. She felt a glow deep within her that seemed to ebb and flow in time with the beating of her heart. Her fingers twined in his chest hair and she kissed the sweat that glistened on his shoulder and neck.

"Did it hurt so much?"

"A little, but it was a nice hurt"

"I didn't want to hurt you"

"You didn't. It wasn't you it was my silly maidenhead. I'm glad it's gone. I'm so very glad it was you."

"Oh my girl, I love you so much."

"I wish tonight could last forever!"

But nothing lasts forever and the next day she saw him off on the train back to the war.

June 1944

Jack adjusted his balance to the ship's rolling and peered into the gloom beyond the bows. The pre-dawn blackness seemed particularly intense and he had to strain to see the telltale blue flicker of the stern light of the next ship in line ahead. He could sense, but could not see, the great convoy of vessels heading for the coast of France. As they had formed up the previous evening he had gaped in amazement at the sheer size of the assembled armada. The Great grey battleships, his father's old ship, Warspite among them: The Landing ships packed with troops. They had all felt a sense of, well, history as they had gaped from the decks of little Speedwell.

Now, as the sky started to lighten, he could hear the steady pinging of the Asdic, sweeping for submarines and the occasional stamping of feet on the bridge above the wheelhouse. The voice-pipe in front of Jack whistled and a tinny voice gave him a new course to steer. He repeated the order and spun the wheel, feeling the ship's motion increase as she swung broadside on to the swell. He didn't hear the explosion. He just saw the brilliant flash that seemed to burn right into his skull. The mine must have been disturbed by the ship ahead. The corvette nudged one of those deadly horns with its thin steel flank, the point of impact just below the bridge. It broke her back, the thrust of her propeller forcing her steadily under waves.

It was still dark when Beth was awoken by the sensation of a kiss on her forehead. She murmured sleepily. "Hello, darling, " and sighed contentedly as kisses trailed down her neck to her breast. He smelt warm and salty, somehow. His mouth was moving lower and she gasped as his tongue entered her. She lay back with her eyes closed and luxuriated in the delicious sensations that flooded her. She might even have cried out as he entered her and she felt the power of his body moving above her. When it came, her orgasm was so intense that she blacked out momentarily, all her senses consumed by the shuddering ecstasy. When she woke again, it was light. And she was alone.

"What time did Jack leave?" she asked her mother at breakfast.

"Jack? I think you must have been dreaming, darling. Jack's at sea."

She shrugged and then her attention was caught by the voice of the BBC Announcer.

"At dawn this morning, allied forces landed on the coast of Normandy supported by airborne landings at strategic points inland ..." It sounded as if the landings were a success and Beth felt her heart leap at the thought that this might really mean the war would soon be over. She was hugging this thought to herself when the voice cut through her reverie. "The admiralty regrets to announce the loss of His Majesty's Ships Archon, Buccleuch and Speedwell."

She heard no more but stood, ashen-faced, her hands clasping her belly where she could feel the first stirrings of new life within her womb.

August 1946

Beth Reynolds stood in the warm sunlight and looked at the canvas-covered hull in the corner of the boatyard. "I reckon she's rightly yours, Beth" said her father-in-law and gave her a shoulder a squeeze. She leaned on the pushchair in front of her where the breeze ruffled her son's dark curls. She looked up at the elderly man beside her, seeing in the lines etched on his face a reflection of her own sufferings.

"I'll need some help to put her right and Little Jack, here, isn't going to be up to it for a year or two!"

"Don't you worry 'bout that, none, girl. I reckon between us we can see 'Maid' right."

"And Little Jack will need to learn to sail her."

"Ah, that he will, my girl, that he will."

They exchanged slow smiles and each felt, for the first time, the long shadow of sorrow beginning to lift. Above them a sea bird soared and circled, its harsh cries sounding unusually triumphant.