The Sapphire Child (The Raj Hotel #2) - Janet MacLeod Trotter Page 0,174

live?’

‘We, Stella,’ he remarked. ‘Where do we plan to live. I’ve been talking things over with Dad. I may not be fit enough to return to the brigade for a while. But if – once – this war is won, I want to be wherever you’ll be happiest. I shan’t stay in the army – I want us never to be parted again. I just want to be with you, Stella, living and working alongside you. Maybe at the Raj in Pindi – or here in Gulmarg. I know this place is very special to us both.’

Stella was tearful at his tender words. ‘Yes, it is.’

She felt overwhelmed at the thought. Not only would they be living in the place they loved best, helping Tom and Esmie, but it would mean she would never be parted from Belle. Then anxiety over her secret weighed on her anew. The burden of it was suffocating. Andrew deserved to know the truth. Yet she dreaded telling him, in case he thought less of her for giving up her child.

‘Andy’ – she hesitated – ‘there’s something I have to tell you. It might make you think differently about me. But I can’t have secrets from you.’ A minute ago she had felt that her happiness would never end, but now she needed to steel herself to say the words that she felt might bring that happiness crashing down. ‘You see, it’s about Belle . . . She’s not who you think she is—’

‘Stella.’ He stopped her. ‘I know about Belle.’

Stella was startled. ‘How can you?’

‘Dad told me.’

Stella put a hand to her mouth and smothered a cry. ‘Then you know who the real mother and father are?’ she croaked.

‘Yes.’

‘You must think me such a coward,’ Stella whispered, ‘giving up my daughter and making your father and Esmie take her.’

Andrew tilted her chin towards him. ‘Stella, look at me. I don’t think there’s a cowardly bone in your body. You were put in an impossible position by that awful Keating. He’s the coward. I don’t blame you for what you did.’

‘Thank you,’ Stella said, shaking with relief.

He wiped at her tears with his thumb and kissed her.

‘I looked in on Belle as she was sleeping,’ he said, his voice tender. ‘She’s so obviously your daughter.’

Stella gave a teary smile. ‘Do you think so?’

‘Yes, I do,’ he said. ‘She’s beautiful. And if I’m honest, it makes it easier for me too.’

‘In what way?’

‘To love her. I understand now why my father and Meemee couldn’t tell me about her earlier. I don’t have to get used to her being a sister – but I could get used to her being a daughter.’

Stella gasped. ‘What are you saying?’

‘That once we’re married, Belle can live with us as our child.’

Stella clung to him. ‘You’d be prepared to do that for me? To take on another man’s child – even Hugh’s?’

‘Of course,’ Andrew insisted. ‘Belle is your daughter – she’s never been, and never will be, Hugh’s.’

Stella stifled a sob. ‘What about your father and Esmie?’

‘They won’t stand in our way,’ he said. ‘They’ll be nearby, and they only want what is best for Belle – and for us.’

Stella put her hands around his face and kissed him tenderly on the lips. ‘I didn’t think I could love you any more than I already do.’ She smiled.

Andrew smiled back, and then he was kissing her again with such warmth that she knew, whatever the future brought, they would face it together – always.

Epilogue

Peshawar, November 1945

Bright autumnal sun filtered through the yellowing leaves of the trees in the British cemetery. Behind the brick walls of the tranquil compound, the stark mountains of the Khyber Pass stood like sentries at attention. As they walked along the path, Stella saw fresh military graves in gleaming white stone and sent up a silent prayer for the bereaved families.

Andrew squeezed her hand. He always seemed to know what she was thinking; he had a gift for empathy. They’d been married for over a year now – the war had been over for nearly three months – and every day she gave thanks that he had been spared.

He’d been invalided out of the army because of his partial sight and they were planning their future between the two Raj Hotels. But The Raj-in-the-Hills was now closed for the cold season and the whole Lomax family would soon be embarking on a voyage back to Scotland for the winter. While Stella relished the thought of seeing Tibby