by Valerie Wood
‘The old devil,’ Tom had said when he’d told Sammi of his father’s gift. ‘He has a fortune tucked away and told nobody of it!’
‘What a lovely day.’ Ellen linked arms with William. They watched the guests milling in the meadow and in the garden of the house.
‘Look.’ He pointed to the moon which had risen above the sea, appearing from behind a cloud which it edged with silver. The cloud moved on, leaving the bright orb shining alone in the night sky, casting its light down on the glinting foaming ocean, touching the hedges of the paddock, and lighting the rose walk and gardens.
They watched in silence as the house was illuminated by its brilliance, the castellated turrets and towers lit like a romantic illustration from a fairy tale. They cast their eyes around the meadow and saw Sammi on Tom’s arm, flitting wraith-like in her cream gown amongst their guests.
‘It’s as if we are looking at a memory,’ William murmured. ‘We have to catch it while we can.’ He glanced up again at their well-loved home and saw the windows with the moon’s reflection, like dark eyes gleaming as they surveyed the scene.
Ellen squeezed his arm. ‘Don’t feel sad,’ she whispered. ‘We have had some happy times here.’
‘Yes,’ he answered. ‘But soon it will all be gone. The house, the land; we haven’t so much longer.’
‘But we shall have our memories,’ she urged, ‘and the children will have theirs.’ She smiled. ‘And we will have grandchildren too, who will perhaps remember. It won’t be lost for ever; the memory will be passed on.’
The fiddler began to play; he closed his eyes and, with the bow poised, he began a waltz melody. There came from within the mellowed wood a haunting sound of crying gulls, the call of an owl and the soft sighing of the sea as it broke against the cliffs below them, the whoosh of a breeze filling a canvas sail, and those who were listening, really listening, didn’t know if the sound was music from the supple plying of the fiddler’s fingers, or from within their hearts.
‘Come! Dance with thy lady, Master Miller!’ Mrs Bishop beamed at them as she sat with a glass of ale in her hand and her brood of children playing around her, in the company of Mrs Reedbarrow who had two sleeping babies on her knee.
Tom took Sammi’s hand and bowed low to her and she, in smiling reply, gave him a deep, old-fashioned curtsey. He led her to the square of grass and as everyone stood back and began to clap their hands, he held her in his arms and they began to dance.
THE END
About the Author
Valerie Wood was born in Yorkshire and now lives in a village near the east coast. She is the author of The Hungry Tide, winner of the Catherine Cookson Prize for Fiction, Annie, Children of the Tide, The Romany Girl, Emily, Going Home, Rosa’s Island, The Doorstep Girls and Far From Home, all available in Corgi paperback.
Find out more about Valerie Wood’s novels by visiting her website on www.valeriewood.co.uk
www.booksattransworld.co.uk
Also by Valerie Wood
THE HUNGRY TIDE
ANNIE
THE ROMANY GIRL
EMILY
GOING HOME
ROSA’S ISLAND
THE DOORSTEP GIRLS
FAR FROM HOME
and published by Corgi Books
TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS
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THE CHILDREN OF THE TIDE
A CORGI BOOK: 9780552144766
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781446464601
First publication in Great Britain
PRINTING HISTORY
Corgi edition published 1996
5 7 9 10 8 6 4
Copyright © Valerie Wood 1996
The right of Valerie Wood to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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