Read Online Always in My Heart by Ellie Dean - Free Book Online

gulp of the whisky. ‘A number of bombs fell on Raffles Place,’ he muttered. ‘The bungalow’s gone, I’m afraid.’
    ‘A bungalow can be rebuilt,’ said Sybil impatiently. ‘What about casualties? Are our friends all right?’
    ‘Most of the damage was done at the airfields, the Sembawang Naval Base, and Keppel Harbour. Philip’s yacht was blown to bits, along with most of the other boats in the Marina, and rumour has it that sixty-one died and over seven hundred were injured – most of the casualties seem to have been troops from the Gurkha Rifles and the Indian Infantry.’
    Sarah couldn’t stand it any longer and broke in before her mother could ask another question. ‘Why is Philip still in Singapore?’
    ‘One of our warehouses took a direct hit, and he’s had to stay to sort things out. He sends his apologies for not ringing, but the phone lines are all down. He’ll be back sometime tomorrow.’ His face creased into a warm smile. ‘In the midst of the mayhem he found time to ask me if he could marry you.’
    Sarah held her breath and clutched the ring at her neck.
    Jock laughed. ‘Well, I couldn’t refuse, could I? Not when you’d already agreed and had the ring to prove it.’
    ‘Oh, Pops, thank you,’ she said in relief as she went to hug him.
    ‘He’s a fine young man, Sarah,’ he said gruffly. ‘I’m delighted for you both.’ Clearly rather embarrassed by his daughter’s show of emotion, he reached again for the whisky and took a restorative gulp.
    Sarah hugged her mother, drew the ring from thechain, and put it on her finger where it sparked like flames in the candlelight.
    ‘I wish I was young again,’ Jock sighed as he stared morosely out of the open doors to the rain that was still drumming on the veranda. ‘Seeing all those chaps setting off like that … I tell you, Sybil, I’d be right with them if I could, and that’s a fact.’
    Sybil stared at him in puzzlement. ‘What do you mean? What young men? Where are they going?’
    Jock continued to watch the rain for a moment. ‘We older men want to muck in as well, you know,’ he grumbled, ‘but it seems we don’t have that choice – not if we have the responsibility of running plantations.’
    ‘Thank God for that,’ breathed Sybil.
    He glared out at the rain. ‘They’re going to need every able man up there, and I feel utterly bloody useless.’
    ‘Jock, you’re frightening us, and so far you haven’t made one bit of sense,’ said Sybil rather sharply. ‘Will you please tell us what has been happening in Singapore?’
    ‘I suppose you have a right to know, but what I’m about to tell you is top secret, and not to be repeated.’
    ‘Do get on with it, Jock,’ snapped Sybil. ‘Can’t you see we’re both on tenterhooks?’
    Jock glanced at his watch and then finished the whisky. He carefully placed the empty glass on the nearby table as if he needed those few seconds to mull over what he should say. ‘The battleships Repulse and Prince of Wales will have left Singapore about half anhour ago with an escort of four destroyers to engage the enemy in the north.’
    Sarah and her mother could only stare at him in horror as the full import of what he said began to sink in, but it was Sarah who voiced their fears. ‘Is it really so bad up there that we have to send battleships?’
    Jock must have heard the fear in her voice and seen it mirrored in Sybil’s face, for he rose to take them into his embrace. ‘It’s just a precaution,’ he murmured. ‘Lieutenant General Percival has ninety thousand British, Indian and Australian troops under his command, and with the Allied air forces and the Royal Navy giving support, we’ll soon have those yellow devils routed.’
    Sarah and her mother leaned into his embrace and tried to find comfort in his words. But in the sudden heavy silence that followed the abrupt end of the rainstorm, Sarah thought she could feel an ominous tension in the air. It was as if the