Read Online Soldier's Daughters by Fiona Field - Free Book Online Page A

Catterick so that’s something to be grateful for. Can you imagine how tricky it would’ve been if him and his new missus had been here too?’
    ‘I suppose,’ said Maddy noncommittally.
    ‘But I don’t think I’ll be going to any more sergeants’ mess dos. Don’t want to show my face there only to have some of the old biddies spit in it. And they would.’ Jenna shrugged. ‘Not that I care because, in my limited experience, those army dos are usually pretty shit, so no great loss.’
    Maddy didn’t contradict her, even though she thought the army’s social life could be bloody good fun.
    ‘What about you?’ Jenna asked.
    Maddy shrugged. ‘Nothing much to tell. I thought about trying to find a job here but then… well, I’m pregnant again.’
    ‘Blimey,’ said Jenna. ‘You’re not wasting any time are you? How old is Nathan?’
    ‘He’ll be almost eighteen months when the baby arrives.’
    ‘Good luck. And you’re going to need it. Bloody hell, two under two.’
    That wasn’t what she wanted to hear, thought Maddy disconsolately. She sipped at the froth on the top of her drink. ‘Do you still do hair?’
    Jenna nodded. ‘Not that I work in a salon. That bitch Zoë wouldn’t give me a reference and anyway there doesn’t seem to be anything going in that line around here. I still work from home when any business comes my way.’
    Maddy’s eyebrows shot up. She knew the chaos caused by Jenna’s last foray into working from home.
    Jenna rolled her eyes. ‘I haven’t done any alterations to my new place. Not that it’d matter as Dan and I don’t live in a quarter. Thank God,’ she added with feeling. ‘I’ve had enough of the army ordering me around. Just as well really when you think about it. Can you imagine what my life would have been like if I lived on the patch when all my old neighbours pitched up?’
    Maddy thought she could. The furore that had been caused by Jenna’s behaviour back when she’d been married to Private Perkins had been the talk of the patch for weeks and weeks. Maddy could imagine the reception Jenna would get if she showed her face around the 1 Herts’ wives again.
    ‘Your hair needs doing,’ said Jenna, changing the subject. ‘If you don’t mind me saying so, Maddy, it looks like shit.’
    Maddy smiled. ‘Get off the fence and say what you really mean.’
    ‘Well, it does,’ said Jenna, unrepentant. ‘I’m not being mean, but it is in serious need of a bloody good cut. I’ll do it for you, if you’d like. I haven’t forgotten that you were kind to me when all the other wives were ganging up against me.’
    Maddy shrugged. ‘I didn’t do much.’
    ‘Maybe not, but it was more than anyone else did. And you didn’t have to. I didn’t deserve anything – not after what I did.’
    ‘You didn’t do anything so terribly dreadful. What you did wasn’t a crime or anything.’
    ‘That’s not how the other wives saw it. I mean,’ said Jenna, ‘it’s not like I’m the first person ever to have a bit of a fling. I read somewhere the other day that almost every married person has at some stage. And I heard on the grapevine that Lee’s happier with his new wife.’ Jenna laughed and flicked her hair over her shoulder. ‘I probably did him a good turn in the long run. Anyway, how about I do your hair for you? As a favour, for old times’ sake.’
    ‘Would you?’ Maddy felt pathetically grateful for the offer. And maybe a smart cut would give her some of her old mojo back.
    ‘’Course. Only would you mind coming to mine? I don’t think I can face running into any of my other old customers. I don’t want to have my past raked up again. It was bad enough what happened the first time round.’
    For all Jenna’s outward brash devil-may-care attitude, Maddy reckoned it was a front and underneath she was just as vulnerable as everyone else.
    Sam was slowly working her way through the list of soldiers in her Light Aid Detachment. She’d interviewed