The Sapphire Child (The Raj Hotel #2) - Janet MacLeod Trotter Page 0,173
sounded so serious, and as they made their way down the slope to the top of the hotel garden, she felt deeply anxious.
Sitting down on a bench, Andrew sighed. Stella wondered if he too was thinking of the last time they had sat there together – just before taking the fateful trip to Scotland – when he had poured out his troubles to her. Once again, she waited breathlessly for him to tell her what was in his heart. Stella watched the final rays of sun light up his features. He had lost weight. His face was thinner and scored with new lines of pain.
Quietly, she said, ‘I’m so very sorry about the loss of John Grant. He was a fine man.’
He nodded and she saw him swallow hard.
After a moment, he turned to look at her directly. ‘I know from Esmie that you got my letter. It was in John’s attaché case. It shouldn’t have been sent.’
Stella’s insides clenched. ‘I know that, Andrew. And I know it must be awkward for you now. I won’t hold you to any of it. It’s Felicity that you’re—’
‘Stella,’ Andrew interrupted. ‘I don’t regret anything I wrote in that letter. I only regret that you didn’t hear it from me in person – that you had to suffer the anxiety of thinking I was dead.’
Stella said with vehemence, ‘Oh, Andrew, it was far more than anxiety. I thought my world had ended when that letter came. It was such a wonderful letter – I had no idea you felt that strongly – and I was so desolate to think I would never be able to tell you . . .’
‘Tell me what?’ Andrew seized her hand.
Tears brimmed in her eyes. ‘That I loved you as much as you said you loved me.’
Andrew clutched her hand harder. ‘And do you still feel that way? Because I do.’
‘Yes, Andy,’ she said, ‘very much.’
He pulled her towards him and their arms went around each other. She laid her head against his chest and for a long while they just held one another. Part of Stella never wanted the moment to end, but she also felt she had to know right then what the future meant for them.
She sat back. ‘But, Andrew, what about Felicity? I don’t want you breaking your promise to her because of what I feel for you.’
‘I won’t be,’ he said.
Stella tensed, bracing herself for the worst. ‘Oh, I see . . .’
‘I got a letter from Mamma while I was in hospital. It gave me two bits of news – one of them being that Felicity got married to a colonel in the Scots Guards over a month ago.’
Stella looked at him aghast. ‘Never?’
Andrew smiled again. ‘I should have known she wouldn’t have the patience to wait for me. With Flis-Tish it’s always been a case of “out of sight – out of mind”.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Stella, shocked by the fact that Felicity had left it to Lydia to break the news to Andrew.
‘I’m not,’ he said. ‘When I wrote that letter to you, I also wrote to Felicity breaking off our engagement. You see, she had every right to do what she did – although I suspect the colonel had probably been courting her for months anyway.’
Stella gazed at him and gently touched his face. ‘I’m glad for her – and I’m glad for us.’
Andrew looked at her intently. ‘Will you marry me, Stella?’
Stella felt a surge of happiness well up inside. ‘Oh, Andy, yes,’ she gasped. ‘Yes, a hundred times over!’
They reached for each other and kissed each other fiercely. Stella felt the same passion that had coursed through her at Tiger Fall and yet this time there was no guilty pulling apart. They loved each other equally and Andrew’s eager kiss showed that their desire was mutual. When they broke from their embrace, they both were breathless and then grinning.
Not quite believing what was happening, Stella pressed herself against his chest. ‘What was your mother’s other news?’
Andrew gave a grunt of amusement. ‘Another wedding,’ he said. ‘Marriage seems to be in the air.’
‘Who?’ she asked. ‘Do I know them?’
‘Yes, it’s Mamma. Dickie finally proposed.’
‘Really?’ Stella exclaimed.
‘Yes, she sounds very happy about it. Was apologising about not waiting till I got home but said at their age they wanted to get on with it.’
‘And are you pleased?’ Stella asked.
‘Very,’ Andrew admitted. ‘It makes me less guilty about not rushing back to Scotland.’