LSF Publications: spanking fiction ebooks

This is the story of Annie Stevens, and the memorable years of her post-war life.

Life certainly didn't start out well on the cessation of hostilities; she had lost her dear husband in the weeks after D-Day in the fighting around Caen, and although he had left her financially secure, she and her daughter were finding it almost impossible to come to terms with their loss and grief.

John had been a junior partner in a re-insurance agency in Lloyds of London, and earned a generous salary, but spent most of the week either working or commuting from our home in Guildford. If he had a fault it was that he lived to work rather than worked to live, and his passion for cricket overwhelmed all other leisure pursuits. Annie seemed to spend most weekend summer afternoons making teas for twenty-two hungry men. During the war she was busy with voluntary war work, but when this ceased the loss was almost unbearable.

After a miserable post-war year in Surrey, she and her daughter, Jenny, decided that a clean break was best and, after discussing finances with her late husband's partners, who assured her that she had no need to work, she decided that she couldn't live like that. When her daughter finished her O levels they went on holiday to South Devon and, while motoring around, saw a charming general store and post-office in a large coastal village with a For Sale board up. Her curiosity aroused, Annie did a little spying and research, and made an appointment to view. The couple assured her that the business was very sound, had no debts, and they were very anxious to make a new life in the Channel Islands now the Germans had left.

Her researches suggested the lady had been extremely friendly with the Quartermaster Sergeant of the now departed US Army, and it was possible they had been a conduit through which US Army stores had leaked into British retail shops, giving rise to a considerable amount of unbankable cash. This suspicion was later given considerable credence by the later discovery of a hidden storeroom containing a large quantity of bourbon, cigarettes, beer, stockings and other items all marked US Army issue.

The shop was very attractive and had an added attraction of excellent residential space, a large garden with a barn, stables and paddock and beautiful views to the back. Although Annie could easily have afforded a country cottage and spent her time gardening, she didn't think it would be easy to make friends and she might be a lonely widow; if she bought the shop she could work in it when she wished and get to know the other villagers. The couple were willing to do a very generous deal to a quick cash buyer such as Annie, so with her daughter's complete agreement she bought it.