‘You always were a lady,’ said Peter, putting his arm about her and drawing her close. ‘Right from the first moment I met you.’
‘But you were the one who rescued me from poverty. You’ve given me so much. And it all began through meeting you here.’
‘Yes, that Regatta Night before the war has a lot to answer for. I’ve often wondered if you had any regrets.’ His voice had suddenly grown serious.
‘About meeting you? Never!’
‘I’ve sometimes made you unhappy, and things haven’t always been easy for you.’
‘We made each other unhappy at times! And, anyway, things were far harder for me before I met you.’
‘Yes, I suppose so. Anything would be better than the life you used to lead.’
‘I didn’t marry you to get away from being poor! Never think that!’ she exclaimed, appalled at the thought.
‘I wouldn’t have blamed you…
‘I married you because I loved you. I still do!’
His sigh of relief was barely audible above the rustling of the wind in the leaves.
‘Is that what you thought?’ she was horrified. ‘All these years you’ve thought I married you for your money?’
‘Only in my darker moments,’ he admitted. ‘Which bothered me, for it turned out it was money I didn’t always have!’
‘Peter Lisburne, you’re a fool!’ she declared so vehemently that heads turned in their direction. ‘But you are a man in a million, and I love you for it,’ she added more quietly. ‘I can’t think of anyone else who would worry about not having the money his wife had married him for! I couldn’t help loving you!’
‘A very ungrammatical statement!’ Peter said. ‘But I thank you for it, because I fell in love with you the moment I saw you standing on this bridge looking out over the bay, and I’ve never stopped. No matter how things have looked, I promise you, I’ve never stopped loving you.’
His arms held her more tightly now, and she nestled against him, happy to feel his closeness, yet too moved to speak.
‘Your other dreams have come true, too. You have met your grand relations,’ he said. ‘You can join the realms of the aristocracy, if you want.’
‘No,’ she said, without a hint of doubt in her voice. ‘Being a lady and well-born and all that nonsense – it doesn’t matter any more. I suppose that’s what happens to dreams, they come true when they’re no longer important. Oh, I shall keep in touch with Lady Agnew and her sister, not because I want a place in their family tree, but because I like them both, particularly Jane. She reminds me so much of Blanche I want to know her better.’ From somewhere below the strains of a dance band rose above the hubbub of the crowd. The singer could just be heard. He was singing ‘I Want to Be Happy!’
To Mercy the words of the song summed up her feelings exactly. Happiness for those she loved, and for herself, that was what she wanted. She knew at last what was truly important. She gave a contented sigh and put her hand into Peter’s. It was Regatta Night, and life was far better than anything she could ever have imagined in her dreams.
With a bang a solitary rocket shot skywards, warning that the firework display was about to begin. As they watched it exploded in a shower of stars, turning their world to gold. It was a time for new dreams: for their children, for their future, for themselves. It was time for them to dream, again…
Next in The Devon Sagas:
A Safe Haven
When Amy Kennedy is sent from Lambeth Workhouse to Devon alongside her closest friends Seth, Jed and Daisy, it finally seems like life is taking a turn for the better. But life at the seaside is not the safe haven they’d hoped for.
Find out more
First published in the United Kingdom in 1991 by Headline Book Publishing
This edition published in the United Kingdom in 2018 by
Canelo Digital Publishing Limited
57 Shepherds Lane
Beaconsfield, Bucks HP9 2DU
United Kingdom
Copyright © Irene Northan, 1991
The moral right of Irene Northan to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781788633215
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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To Dream Again Page 48