by Angela Arney
Her heart thudded. How could she have been so blind? It was his smile. It was the smile that had warmed her heart the first time she’d seen it in St Nicholas’s church so many years before. It was Jim. The old man was Jim. For a moment she felt confused, then realized why. The Jim of her dreams had remained forever young. But of course he had aged just as she had. It was easy to forget that when she was young inside.
‘I’m sorry I’m late,’ he said.
‘Why didn’t you come back before, when…’ she stopped. There was something ridiculous about asking a question fifty years too late.
‘I took a different route.’
She nodded slowly. ‘I suppose we both did.’
He reached out and took her hand. ‘There’s a lot to say. I’m sorry …’
Megan put a hand to his lips, stilling the words. ‘We can talk later. That is …’ now she hesitated. ‘If you are staying for a while?’ Would he stop? She waited.
‘I’d like to. If you will have me.’
‘Nothing has changed. You will always be welcome here at Folly House.’
‘Are you two coming in? It’s getting cold out there. You’ll catch your deaths, both of you.’ Rosie came hurrying across the lawn towards them.
It seemed natural to slip her arm through his as they walked back towards the house. They didn’t speak. Being together was enough. The warmth and light of the house reached out and drew them in to the heart of the family.
As they entered Megan looked back over her shoulder and for a fleeting moment thought she could see the past fifty years, a silvery shimmer behind them like the wake of a ship that passes in the night. Then with a whisper it disappeared, borne by the wind into the enfolding sea that lapped the ancient walls of the Folly.
Copyright
© Angela Arney
First published in Great Britain 2014
ISBN 978 0 7198 1509 6 (epub)
ISBN 978 0 7198 1510 2 (mobi)
ISBN 978 0 7198 1511 9 (pdf)
ISBN 978 0 7198 1178 4 (print)
Robert Hale Limited
Clerkenwell House
Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0HT
www.halebooks.com
The right of Angela Arney to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988