Harvest of War Read Online Free

.’
    He was about to spill out the story of all the long years of painful concealment but before he could go on Ralph came closer and put his hand on his lips.
    â€˜No, Tom. I know you want to help, but there’s nothing you can do. You have to understand. All these years you’ve been the one shining light in my existence. Your honest friendship has kept me sane, made me feel that I’m not completely worthless. If I lost that, I don’t know what I should do. I’m more sorry than I can say that you had to find out this way. But if you can find it in your heart to forgive me, to continue to be my friend, that is more important to me than anything else in the world. Can you do that?’
    Tom stared at him in dumb misery. ‘You know I can. Whatever happens, I would never let you down.’
    â€˜I love you, Tom,’ Ralph said. ‘You are like the brother I never had. Please let me hang on to that.’
    Tom swallowed and nodded. He wanted to seize Ralph and crush him in his arms and pour out his true feelings, but with a few words he had put that beyond the reach of possibility for ever. Instead he said, ‘They’re transferring me to First Battalion. I leave first thing tomorrow.’

Three
    Luke Pavel drew the hired buggy to a standstill and pointed ahead with his whip. ‘There it is. Welcome to Taupaki Farm.’
    Sophie gazed in the direction he was pointing. ‘All this? Yours?’
    â€˜Well, my Dad’s at the moment. Mine one day.’
    â€˜Is beautiful!’ Sophie was still struggling with English, although Luke had been giving her lessons on the voyage from Cairo.
    â€˜Horsey! Horsey! Giddy-up!’ cried an excited voice from behind them. Anton had made more rapid progress with the new language than his mother.
    Luke turned in his seat and smiled at the little boy. ‘Yes, lots of horses. We’ll have to see if we can find you a pony to ride.’
    He turned back abruptly and shook the reins to make the horse walk on, aware that his words had contained an assumption that he had no reason to make. That thought segued naturally into the dilemma that had dominated his mind since the ship docked at Wellington. In a few minutes he would have to introduce Sophie to his family – and he did not know what form of words to use. He had written home soon after leaving Cairo and posted the letter when the ship called at Cape Town, but he had ducked the problem of explaining their relationship, simply stating that he was bringing with him a young Macedonian widow and her son, whom he had met by chance during the fighting on Gallipoli and who needed sanctuary and a temporary home. He knew that the reference to her nationality would guarantee her welcome and decided not to muddy the waters by referring to their hasty marriage. That was what he told himself, but he knew that the real reason was that he was so confused in his own mind about the nature of their relationship that he was unwilling to make it concrete in writing. All through the voyage they had maintained a chaste distance. In fact, they had had little choice in the matter as Luke had been accommodated with the rest of the returning troops in a crowded dormitory, while Sophie and Anton had shared a cabin with two other nurses. But during the day they had spent a lot of time together, reminiscing about their earlier experiences at Adrianople and playing with Anton. Luke found himself enjoying both her company and his developing relationship with the little boy more and more as the days passed. They had never spoken of the future. It seemed that they had both tacitly agreed that the duration of the voyage was a time apart from ordinary life, belonging neither to the trauma of the past nor to the uncertainty of the future.
    But now the voyage was over and in a moment he would drive up to the door of the farmhouse and be precipitated into the midst of his family. He was longing to see them, and he