Homecomings: Homecomings Series, #1

By Isabella Hargreaves

Four short stories about finding love in the aftermath of the First World War.

 

Sometimes coming home can be harder than leaving.

 

Bloody, industrial war raged in Europe. Millions died during four long years of battle - blown up, mown down by machine guns, and gassed. Eventually the survivors come home, but they're scarred physically and psychologically. Their loved ones, and those of the fallen, wait for them, eager to recommence their old lives now the war is over. But everything has changed.

 

Heart-warming short stories of happiness and hope for the future for four returned servicemen after the trauma they experienced:

 

The Jade Keepsake

 

Some promises can't be kept.

 

New Zealand, 1914-1919. Separated by half a world, Viola waits for her fiancé Alec to return from service in the 'Great War' in Europe. And while the war grinds on, they correspond… until he's listed as missing in action. With Alec presumed dead, can Viola create a life without him, or should she keep hoping for his miraculous return?

 

The Jade Keepsake is the Romance Writers of Australia's Little Gems: Jade short story competition winner in 2018. This short story of 3000 words was previously published as part of the Romance Writers of Australia's Little Gems: Jade anthology in 2018.

 

The Return of the Tiger

 

Racing into the future brings back an unresolved past

 

Southport, Australia, 1919. Tom Greenaway wants to forget the grief of losing so many friends in the war. He resumes his motor car racing career, only to find reminders of the past are closer than he could have imagined when a mystery driver challenges him. Can he resolve the past and create a better future?

 

Lemon Cupcake Homecoming

 

She's baking love into every cupcake for her homecoming hero

 

Drayton, Darling Downs, Australia 1919. With eager and nervous anticipation, Cate bakes her James' favourite lemon cupcakes for his welcome home from war celebration. She's waited a long time for his return, but will he finally acknowledge his feelings for his best friend's younger sister?

 

Our Selection

 

Can newfound love overcome the pain of their mutual loss?

 

Beechmont, Gold Coast hinterland, Australia, 1919. Bob's come home to the woman he loves…but she's his brother's widow and joint owner of his dairy farm. Is there any hope that his burning, guilt-filled love for her will ever be returned?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Isabella Hargreaves
• Release date: Nov 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9780648196891

Isabella Hargreaves

Isabella Hargreaves is an award-winning historical romance author. She writes Romance through the Ages, with a story to tell from the Regency era to Ancient Britain and to 1920s Australia. She loves writing about strong heroines finding the men to match them. She is a winner of the Romance Writers of Australia Romantic Book of the Year 2022 (novella category), the Romance Writers of New Zealand Koru Award 2018 (novella category) and the Romance Writers of Australia 'Little Gems' short story competition 2018, and a finalist in a number of other awards. Isabella lives in Brisbane, Australia, where she works as an historian and is butler to three moggies. When she's not reading and writing, Isabella loves horse-riding and scenic walks. She dreams of an around-the-world trip to indulge these passions. For more information about Isabella Hargreaves' books, and to sign up for email advice about her next release, go to: www.isabellahargreaves.com Follow on: Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/isabella-hargreaves Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7457181.Isabella_Hargreaves Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IsabellaHargreavesBooks

Book preview

Prologue

Six men answered the call of King and country...

They served with bravery, but paid a price.

Now they’re going home to pick up the pieces of their lives.

Harefield House (No.1 Australian Auxiliary Hospital), Middlesex, England. Late November 1918

Lieutenant Colonel Charlton Yeatman, Commanding Officer of No.1 Australian Auxiliary Hospital, Harefield Park, descends the staircase leading from the upstairs wards into the foyer of the former country house. It’s time to farewell another group of recovered soldiers returning home. Light from the ornamental electric fitting hanging from the ceiling illuminates the timber-panelled room. Through the glass-panelled front door he glimpses a misty cold morning outside.

The sweet smell of carbolic acid reaches even here, far from the wards. Or does it just permanently fill his nostrils after all these years of war? Sometimes, he swears he can taste it. From above comes the sounds of the many soldiers and nurses who fill the wards and the clink and rattle of bottles and instruments.

Six unformed men are assembled in the foyer with their kit. Two infantrymen engrossed in conversation lean against either side of the doorway to the grounds—Lieutenant Jack Edgarson and Sergeant Bill Carter, who’s supported by a crutch.

Tall and wiry Bill Carter is lucky to have kept his lower right leg, which was mangled by an exploding shell. As the men talk, the crow’s feet around Bill’s eyes crinkle with laughter. When he’s recovered fully from his injuries, he’ll be a handsome man again.

Jack Edgarson is entirely different. A man of few words, he’s a brown-haired bushman from the Queensland outback, his hands large, gnarled, and calloused from farm work. If he wasn’t recovering from a wound, he’d be brawny. His size and unsmiling, sun-seared face make him look formidable, but he’s more likely a gentle giant.

Two more Australian soldiers are seated on a battered leather lounge to the side of them. Lieutenant James Kildare is talking solidly with Bob Jenkins. James is tall, dark-haired and good-looking with a ready smile. Apart from the remaining bandage over his eyes, he looks hale and hearty. The reality is far different from his appearance.

Bob, previously a dairy farmer from the border mountains of southern Queensland, has been here the least amount of time. He caught influenza in the trenches during the dying days of the war and was hospitalised here for a few weeks, as the wards began filling with cases in earnest.

These four Australians hail from the country, where three of them worked on the land.

The remaining two men don’t quite fit the group. Flying Officer Tom Greenaway, of Number 4 Squadron of the Australian Flying Corps, by rights should have been treated at the dedicated Australian Flying Corp Hospital at Tetbury but ended up here instead. He didn’t mind the administrative mess up.

Medium height, compact and muscular, Tom was a mechanic with a love of car racing before the war. He switched to an even faster machine when he joined the flying corps in 1916. He’s almost lost his thousand-mile stare, but it reappears every so often.

Then there’s the New Zealander. He ended up here rather than at New Zealand General Hospital No.1, Brockenhurst in the New Forest with his countrymen, because a shell blast during the Battle of Hindenburg Line in late September tore his uniform and identity disk from his body. Brought in unconscious, he remained that way until his arrival here. He still has amnesia, so no one knows who he is, except one of the missing New Zealanders from that battle.

He’s mainly healed. His face is scarred and his nose set not quite straight. His damaged leg is improving, but he’s so gaunt his uniform hangs off his body. He’s going home in the hope that the familiar environment will restore his memory.

These men have been here for varying lengths of time, but now are recovered enough to be put onboard the next ship for home. All that remains is for me, as senior officer here, to farewell them and wish them well in the future.

They’re among the lucky ones—going home, not so very damaged compared with those who gained disfiguring burns or lost faces and limbs, or their minds. Most of these men have scars from their years in battle and probably all have mental scars that no one can see. Still, he’s hopeful they’ll return to normality with time. Good morning, men.

The fitter men come to attention and salute him. Two