‘But, darling, you fly aeroplanes,’ she reminded him gently.
‘I don’t care. It’s not the same.’
‘Because you’re not at the controls?’
He nodded, biting his lip. ‘Maybe. I can’t look down, I just can’t.’
‘Don’t, then. Look at the sky. Look at all the greens in the trees and fields. Look at how trim and prim the countryside looks, like a place for garden gnomes, a Toytown, so unscary and manageable…’
‘That means looking down… to see those things.’
‘Oh, yes, sorry. Just the sky then – keep your eyes on that. And there’s a cloud over there, small and fluffy – like a lost sheep.’
Dominic edged forwards, keeping a tight grip on her hand. ‘Maggie was the one who got vertigo. Not me.’
‘This better not mean you’re going to give up flying.’
Dominic laughed, relaxing a little. ‘No, never… I’d miss it.’
‘A month of promising and you still haven’t taken me up.’
‘I will. There’s been quite a lot going on, in case you hadn’t noticed.’ He shuffled closer to the edge of the basket and peered over gingerly. ‘It’s better now, being higher, more like the plane. God, I feel so… exposed, though, don’t you? One sneeze and I could fall out.’
Charlotte giggled. ‘Nonsense. And, besides, I’d hold you.’
‘Then you’d fall with me.’
‘Then I’d fall with you,’ she echoed, smiling.
Up high, it was silent and still, as if they were suspended from some invisible hook in the sky rather than actually moving. Below, the world was a carpet, smooth and safe, unpeopled, untroubled. Thoroughly relaxed now, they rested their elbows side by side on the edge of the basket and feasted on the sight – the bands of colour in the sky, the lost sheep of a cloud, which shrank to a wisp, a speck and then was gone.
‘We’re going down,’ Dominic shouted, relaxed and exuberant, when the balloon, some forty minutes later, began its descent. ‘I hope you remember the drill.’
‘Easy – look.’ Charlotte turned her back to the edge, took hold of the safety handle and squatted as they had been shown.
‘Very impressive, but,’ he added slyly, ‘there’s the other thing to prepare for too, the thing I haven’t mentioned yet.’
‘What other thing? What are you talking about?’ She punched his arm.
‘If you look now, you might see.’ Dominic pointed down to the road where the truck – in walkie-talkie contact with their captain – was racing to the field that had been identified as the best spot for landing. ‘There’s a bit of a welcome committee behind that thing down there. Sorry, but Theresa can be quite formidable when she latches on to something can’t she? The whole birthday-party idea, she wouldn’t give up on it.’
Charlotte stared, speechless, as the line of cars behind the truck came into focus, the windows of each open and spilling, she could see now, with familiar heads and waving arms. Theresa, Naomi, Josephine – husbands, children, they were all there; and the saintly Bill’s sparkling Audi was bringing up the rear, with her mother riding up front for once, her face a small blur through the windscreen. Four, five cars, counting the truck… Charlotte scanned the lane, checking for Martin’s black convertible. It wasn’t there, but it was good to have wanted it to be, good to know that he was an integral, positive part of her world.
‘I am whole.’ She whispered the words to the air. The ground was rushing up at them, bringing with it the hiss of trees, the roar of car engines, a barking dog. Reality returning: it was time to adopt the emergency positions they had been shown. And it felt necessary, too, now that the moment had come. They were going so fast, anything could happen. Charlotte squatted, reaching not for the safety handle but for Dominic’s hand, watching his face as they braced themselves to land.
Acknowledgements
‘Research assistance’ occurs constantly, in ways too numerous and subtle to list or pin down. Those clearly warranting formal thanks are Paula Carter, who took me flying, Ed and Louisa Brookfield, for my helpful birthday gift, Sara Westcott, for matters medical, and Greene’s College, Oxford, for setting me straight on my Latin.
Table of Contents
Cover
About the Author
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Life Begins
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Acknowledgements
Life Begins Page 38