Sweet Memories of You (Beach View Boarding House) by Ellie Dean Page B

settled his peaked hat on his head before shooting her a beaming smile. ‘Come on, girl. Let’s take a stroll in Victoria Park. There’s another half-hour before my train leaves and it would be a shame to waste it.’
    Doreen smiled her thanks at the woman behind the counter and hurried outside, and Archie swiftly closed the door behind them: the ARP wardens were quick to spot a light in the blackout.
    Archie hauled the kitbag over his shoulder and slipped his free arm about Doreen, holding her close to his side. They walked slowly down the street, guided only by a pale moon which appeared occasionally between the scudding clouds that promised yet more rain. It had been a gloomy day which they’d managed to escape by being tucked up snugly in bed together, and now, as the time for him to leave approached, it seemed to Doreen that the weather mirrored her mood exactly.
    It was as if he sensed her thoughts, for he drew to a halt, pulled her closer and tipped up her chin so he could look into her eyes. ‘It won’t be long before I’m back again,’ he said softly, ‘so don’t spoil this moment by thinking the worst.’ He lightly kissed her brow. ‘I’ve survived this long, and you know what they say about only the good dying young.’ He shot her a wolfish grin ‘Well, I’m a bad bad boy, and the Devil takes care of his own.’
    Doreen wished she possessed the same faith, for she knew only too well how many brave men had been lost in the Atlantic over the past four years. She clung to him and breathed in his scent, safe for the moment in his strong arms, the sound of his steady heartbeat drumming in her ear.
    They stood lost in each other as people scurried past them in the blackout. Life for Doreen was far more secure than for Archie, and she wished with all her heart that she could somehow cast a spell around him and keep him safe. Yet in reality he would remain in peril, while she would return to the house in Halstead that she shared with her colleagues, and continue her work in the knowledge that the government had seen to it that Fort Halstead’s scientists and office staff were furnished with deep underground shelters and early warning systems.
    ‘We can’t change anything at the moment, Dor,’ he murmured. ‘But we can begin to make plans for when this war’s over.’
    She looked up at him, half afraid that if they made plans it would tempt fate.
    He smiled. ‘I know what you’re thinking, girl, but if we don’t make plans, then what’s this war all about? It’s important not to be bogged down in the present, but to look forward. You do understand that, don’t you?’
    She nodded and sniffed back the ready tears, determined not to spoil the moment. ‘So what plans are you dreaming up, Archie?’
    ‘You and me, girl, that’s what,’ he said gruffly. ‘You and me and your girls in a little house by the sea; surrounded by our nippers.’
    ‘Oh, Archie, that sounds wonderful,’ she sighed. ‘But what about your career? Won’t you be staying in the Navy?’
    He shook his head and grimaced. ‘By the time this lot is over I’ll have had enough of shipboard life,’ he said. ‘My plan is to start up my own business. England’s going to need engineers to get her back on her feet again.’
    ‘Then that’s what we’ll do,’ she said softly.
    He looked deeply into her eyes. ‘I love you, Dor, and although I realise this is hardly the most romantic place to ask such a thing but … Will you marry me?’
    Her heart seemed to swell as she reached up to cup his face in her hands. ‘Of course I will, dear, dear Archie.’
    He pulled her to him and kissed her passionately until she was quite breathless, then set her back on her feet and grinned down at her. ‘You’ve made me the happiest man alive,’ he said. ‘And when I come home next we’ll get a special licence. I’m not going to let you slip away from me ever again.’
    Doreen gazed up into his eyes, overwhelmed by the depth of feeling