The Last Letter from Juliet - Melanie Hudson Page 0,29

knelt by me and took my hands again. ‘You know why I said I’m a coddiwompler, Juliet?’

I shook my head.

‘Because I’ve never wanted to become focused on any big goals or aspiration. I’ve seen too many men forget to live in the moment because all they can see are the goalposts ahead of them. I live for today, right now. No promises. No expectations.’

My mother would definitely have despised him …

‘Say you’ll spend the day with me. I’ll show you the cove – the best bits – and you can take me flying. I’ll grab my camera. Do you like lobster?’ His bright smile was intoxicating. I nodded, my eyes swelling with tears.

This was how it was supposed to be, being in love.

‘I love lobster.’

Edward took a handkerchief from his pocket again and dabbed away my tears that now flowed freely. ‘And we can even sail on the river this afternoon,’ he added, ‘if it stays fine. Did I tell you I have a little boat here? The Mermaid. She’s lovely. What do you say?’

I smiled perhaps the broadest smile I had ever smiled in my life. I should have said no. I should have run away as fast as my legs could carry me – I still knew absolutely nothing about him. And yet, I knew him as I knew my own reflection. Which is why I didn’t say no.

Of course, I didn’t say no.

‘Oh, Edward,’ I said. ‘One wonderful day just for us? I’d absolutely love it.’

Chapter 11

Juliet

Magnetism

Oh, the impetuosity of youth!

Scratch that.

Oh, the impetuosity of being in love, whatever the age of the lovers. I would have trampled my own mother to spend time with Edward that day. Why is it that we turn into foolhardy, live-for-the-moment and ‘to hell with everyone else’ children the very moment we fall in love?

Magnetism, again?

Whatever the answer, it was a wonderful day. But a great many things can happen in twenty-four hours … in fact, not just in twenty-four, but in an hour or two, or even just in a minute. And by Christmas Eve everything in my life had changed in a way I could not possibly have imagined when I said yes to spending the day with Edward.

Our ‘one wonderful day to last a lifetime’ had proven worthy of its name. We spent the morning as Edward had planned – exploring the cove, taking a trip in the Tiger Moth, lots of photographs and then lunch. It felt like the first day of a honeymoon – that carefree, selfish time of pleasing only ourselves. After lunch the weather closed in suddenly, as is its want in Cornwall, and we did not head down to the river as planned, but stayed indoors, resting by the fireside in the cottage. We read, we talked, we listened to the gramophone and bit by bit, the light that had shone brightly through the kitchen window in the morning – a light that held all the promise of a fabulous day in its fiery glow – faded, only to be replaced by thick fog that shrouded the Angels in a heavy and oppressive blanket of gloomy murk. The perfect flicker of candles and the glow of firelight only served to continue to wrap us in romance, and I loved every single moment of it.

The little Art Deco clock on the mantelpiece chimed four times when, with a heart made of lead, I rose from my place on the rug in front of the fire and began to gather my things. Edward took a vinyl from his collection and placed it on the gramophone. Standing slowly, he took me in his arms and without words we danced to Peggy Lee, Linger In My Arms A Little Longer. It was at that very moment, while resting my head on Edward’s shoulder, that I was at my most happy and most sad, right then and there, in a little cottage called Angel View, with a man I had known for less than a week.

The song ended.

I stepped away from his embrace and in the firelight Edward said just four words, ‘Don’t marry him, Juliet.’

I kissed him then – the perfect kiss to end the perfect day – and answered in the only way I knew how.

‘I won’t.’

Holding my father’s compass for luck, I dashed upstairs to find Lottie. Pa’s motto, after all, was, ‘when in doubt, don’t!’ And so, I wouldn’t – I wouldn’t marry Charles. I would call off the wedding. But I needed to