council had commissioned a copy of The Market of Old Melsham to hang in the town hall. She hadn’t become a famous artist, but she was making a little money at it, a small step on the way to realising her original ambition. Now here was Simon looking at her in that all-seeing way of his and melting her with his smile. ‘Come in and I’ll make some coffee.’
He followed her into the kitchen and sat at the table to watch her as she moved about putting the percolator on the gas stove, setting out cups and saucers, fetching milk from the fridge. The small domestic movements made his heart contract painfully. Was it still too soon? Would she turn him away, as she had done on that fateful Christmas Day? He took a deep breath, but his voice, when he spoke, was light. ‘How are you?’
‘I’m fine. And you?’ On the surface it was an ordinary kind of exchange, but she could feel the tension, the undercurrents sweeping them along.
‘Fine.’
‘Then why are you here? Why now?’
‘I decided it was time.’
‘Time?’
‘Yes. Time to find out how the land lies, to see if there’s anything you want or need. I meant what I said at George’s funeral about always being there for you.’
‘Thank you.’
‘We couldn’t talk then, not properly. It was too soon. I had to wait for the right moment.’
‘And you think this is it?’
‘I can’t be sure, but I thought it was about right and the switching on of the fountain seemed appropriate, a time to take stock, as it were.’
‘For you or for me?’
‘Both.’ He reached out and took both her hands in his and held them to his chest. ‘You escaped me once, I can’t let it happen again for want of trying.’
She looked up into his eyes and then away again because the message in them was confusing her, making her realise that she still wanted him, that all her efforts to put the past behind her, and him along with it, had failed. ‘Simon, I don’t understand. You can’t still want me—’
‘Always and for ever. You remember the beginning, when you were a student and I was a lieutenant back from the war?’ She nodded. ‘George got there first and claimed you. I couldn’t risk that happening again with someone else.’
She smiled. ‘It won’t. There is no one.’
‘Good.’
‘But, Simon, that was a long time ago. We can’t go back. It just isn’t possible.’
‘No, but we can go forward. All I’m saying is that I still love you and that won’t ever change. I loved you then, I love you now, and I always will. To eternity.’
Her heart was beating almost in her throat and her knees felt weak. The words were like a distant melody, half remembered, just out of reach, haunting her, tantalising her, filling her whole being. ‘Simon, I—’
‘Don’t say anything, just listen to your heart.’ He bent to kiss her. The old fire, the feeling of being an entity with him, the sheer power of what they felt for each other, had always felt for each other, seized her in its grip and it was useless trying to fight it. She put her arms round his neck and let her own love mingle with his, surrounding them like a benevolent cloud. ‘It is the same for you too,’ he murmured. ‘You feel it too.’
‘Oh, Simon…’
‘Say you do. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t, no impediment at all. Say you’ll marry me.’
‘Simon, I don’t know. I’m confused. I don’t know that I’m ready for another marriage. I don’t know if I ever will be.’
Still holding her, he leant back and looked into her eyes. ‘Do you mind telling me why?’
She reached up and stroked the tiny scar on his face with the back of her finger. ‘You know, I used to dream about what I’d say if you came back and still wanted me.’ She laughed, almost tipsily. ‘It was a slightly erotic dream, Simon, but now you’re here, it’s different. I’m different. For the first time in my life, I feel absolutely free. I don’t have to consult anyone about what I do, where I go. It is a wonderful feeling of independence, of liberation. Today, for instance, I plan to drive out into the country and paint.’
‘I understand, and after what you’ve been through, I can sympathise, but we’ve wasted so much time, years and years, pretending to be something we’re not, trying to please all those around us we thought