I was busy writing a short story for another anthology when the call went out asking for people to write a story for a charity anthology to raise funds to donate to the Red Cross Ukraine Appeal. How could I have ever said no?
It seems hard initially to think about love in a time of war, yet the reality is that love is often at it’s strongest. People fight to defend their, homes, their families, their loved ones. mothers grab children and flee not knowing if they will ever be reunited with the significant other. it is also a time where people an meet and fall in love with someone they might have never met in everyday life. Sounds far fetched? Let me tell you about how my grandparents met.
I never knew the story while my grandad was alive, there were just somethings he never talked about and I would never have dreamt of asking him, but if you were to ask my grandma she would tell everyone that she met my grandad in bed!
My grandma wanted to be a nurse and while she trained through WWII she was offered the chance to take an extra course in nursing TB patients, she was a firm believer of taking all options available and did the course and got on with her life. A couple of years later as the war came to an end my grandad was brought home from a prisoner of war camp suffering from TB… you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to work out what happened, my grandma was his nurse!
Now, to be fair it is a miracle he ever got to date her as there were also soldiers from her uncles regiment on the wards too who had all be warned she was off limits. I never completely understood the dynamics of my grandparents relationship until long after his death, when other family members filled me in on my grandads family history more. I do know that they met under incredible circumstances and that the bond between them was incredible.
I often think that they both saw the horrors of war in different ways, they didn’t need to talk about it, they understood each other and that while it might not be the type of romantic meeting so many people wish for, it was one that set them up for a lifetime together.
For many in this current conflict there will be no happy ending but if you can spare a couple of pounds then pre-order your copy today and help us help those who cannot help themselves right not. mybook.to/battleoftheHeart
Paula Acton 