Sunflower Summer

by Sue Peters

  'To the spinney and back.' Keir responded to her question. 'If you remember, I asked if you would take me there some time,' he added.

  'But I thought Marcia ...' She stopped. She did not want to admit she had seen Marcia go that way with him, when she and Steve came out of the church after taking their sunflowers.

  'Ah, but Marcia didn't show me where the badger setts are,' he told her, 'she only showed me where she wants the tennis courts sited.'

  Surely they were going to be in one and the same place? Nan thought miserably. The one destroying the other.

  'What about Ma's cottage?' Now that the hospital was safe, she had to know about that, too.

  'Oh, McFee was quite adamant about that. He'd made up his mind even before he got to the hospital,' Keir said happily. 'I like that man,' he added, and Nan's heart lifted. 'He said on no account must anyone disturb the old lady, unless Oliver or I thought she would be better looked after somewhere else. We both told him she was better left in her own home, and looked after by her family,' he said firmly.

  'Keir, I'm so glad!' She caught at his arm impulsively, and he reached out his hand and drew her to him, trapping her hand so that she had to leave it where it was, and walk close by his side. 'About the laboratory,' she began again, and again she stopped, at a loss for words, not daring to express her own real feelings in case more than she wished of them might show, and become too obvious to the man at her side.

  'I thought it was the best thing to do with Edwina's money. I don't want it for myself.' He spoke tiredly, the strain of the long day beginning to show. 'I don't want the money, or the memories that go with it,' he added quietly. 'Our marriage wasn't a happy one, Nan.'

  Why was he telling her this? It was Marcia who should receive his confidences, not herself.

  'It's this way, isn't it?' He hesitated as they reached the small wicket gate leading into the orchard, and Nan nodded. 'You go through,' he told her, 'and I'll close it behind us.' He pulled the gate open, and she waited for him to join her. Exactly as she had seen Marcia do, she thought. She must be stood in almost exactly the same spot. She went to move as he pulled the gate to, and a small spurt of dust flew up into her face as the bottom rail dragged on the dry ground.

  'The same thing happened the other day.' He flicked a clean handkerchief out of his top pocket, and turned to her anxiously. 'Has it gone in your eyes?'

  'No, I stepped back in time.' But she didn't step away from him as he tipped her face towards him. and gently wiped her cheeks free from dust.

  'I should have remembered,' he scolded himself remorsefully. 'Exactly the same thing happened when Marcia took me to see where she wanted the courts sited. I closed the gate, and a bit of grit flew straight into her eye. I didn't think I'd got it all out, so I took her to the hospital to make sure.

  That's why I had to keep the Land-Rover out for so long,' he told her casually.

  So he had. not lied to her uncle after all! A tremendous relief caught Nan in a dizzy grip.

  'You'll soon have your own car to drive, you won't need to rely on the Land-Rover. Will you mind being behind the wheel again?' She did not feel capable of driving a new Twin Jet.

  'Why should I mind?' He sounded puzzled.

  'I thought perhaps you might not want to drive because of —well, you've used me as a chauffeur ever since you came to us,' she finished defensively.

  'How else could I make sure of your company?' he asked her, and his eyes laughed at' her gasp. 'It was the only way I could keep you with me. And it was effective,' he chuckled. 'By the way,' he added, 'remind me to get this gate fixed when we come to live here.'

  'When we come ... ?' The day's been too much, for both of us, she thought dazedly, conscious that he still had his arms around her, holding her close to him, even though it wasn't necessary now he knew she had not got anything in her eye.

  'I've got first option to buy the Manor,' he told her softly. 'If you'll only say the word.' His eyes bored deep into her own, glowing with feeling that he made no effort to hide. 'Marry me, Nan,' he begged her, no longer aloof and self-assured, but a man pleading for his heart's desire. 'I love you so,' he said hoarsely.

  Nan felt slightly delirious. Without being told, her arms found their own way round him, as they had longed to do, so that they found their place naturally, without any effort on her part. As her lips found his, and sweetly gave him the answer he craved for.

  'I didn't know the Lisles were thinking of moving.' A long time afterwards she raised her head, only to rest it again contentedly against his shoulder. It fitted there, as it was made to do, and his grip tightened, holding her close against him as if he feared to ever let her go, his lips now and then lightly touching her hair.

  'Mrs Lisle misses her bingo,' there was a laugh in his voice. 'Rodney's got himself a job in Birmingham. And now Mr Lisle will have to resign from the Planning Committee. He'll have no option, now he's lost the vote,' as Nan made a restless movement of disbelief, 'he'll have nothing to interest him here, now he can't have the land the hospital stands on. Marcia's the only one who wants to stay—I can't think why,' he said indifferently.

  Nan did not tell him she knew the reason. It did not matter, now.

  'Maybe it's the thought of the tennis courts,' she said vaguely.

  'I don't think so,' he answered her seriously. 'I managed to talk her out of those, thank goodness. You were so upset about the badger setts, I had to do something to save them for you. Even though it meant wasting hours talking to Marcia, instead of being with you,' he added ruefully, and Nan laughed, a joyous, lilting sound.

  'And I thought—oh, never mind what I thought.' Like her heart said, it didn't matter now.

  'Anyhow, the badger setts will be safe with us,' he said contentedly. 'Once we're living in the Manor we can look after them ourselves. And we'll train our children to do the same.' He smiled deep into her eyes, warming to the response he saw in them. 'We'll make each other, and the Manor, happy again,' he promised.