The Nightingale Girls - By Donna Douglas Page 0,169

treacherously. Soon she would have to be getting back to the hospital.

‘I’m sorry.’ Charlie threaded his fingers through hers. ‘I shouldn’t have got angry at you. We haven’t got that much time left together, I don’t want to spend it arguing.’

‘I do love you,’ Helen said unhappily. ‘And if I had my way, we’d be together every minute of the day, but . . .’

‘Then let me come with you,’ Charlie cut across her words, his fingers tightening around hers. ‘If you have to go to Scotland, then so will I.’

Helen stared at him. ‘I couldn’t ask you to do that.’

‘You’re not asking me, I’m offering. I could move up to Scotland, find digs near your hospital.’ His face was eager. ‘Then we could see each other all the time, and no one would be able to say anything about it.’

‘But my mother—’

‘What would she know about it? She’d be miles away. Don’t you think it’s a good idea? It’s so simple, I don’t know why I haven’t thought of it before!’

He laughed in delight, but Helen was hesitant. ‘How would you live?’

‘I’d get a job, of course. I know I might not be able to run around like I used to, but there’s bound to be some kind of work I can do.’ He grinned. ‘I could be a haggis-maker. Or a sporran-hunter. Or – I don’t know – Scotland’s only one-legged bagpipe player. I could do something, anyway.’

His good humour was so infectious, Helen smiled in spite of herself. But deep down she was still wary. ‘What about your family? You wouldn’t be able to see them as much as you do now.’ She knew how close Charlie was to his parents and brothers and sisters, and how much it would hurt him not to be with them.

‘So what? I’d be with you, and that’s what’s really important.’ He beamed at her. ‘What do you think?’

Helen chewed her lip. She desperately wanted to say yes, but she knew that would just be selfish. ‘You’re a Londoner, you’d be lost in Scotland.’

‘I’d be lost without you.’

Antonio, a big man in a greasy apron, began cleaning their table. ‘Haven’t you two got homes to go to?’ he said irritably.

‘I’m sorry.’ Helen instantly started to get up, but Charlie held on to her hand, pulling her back down into her seat.

‘I can’t let you go,’ he said quietly.

‘I can’t let you go, either.’ Her heart was already aching at the thought of never seeing him again.

‘Then marry me.’

Everything seemed to stop dead in that moment. Even Antonio stopped wiping their table and looked up.

‘What did you say?’ Helen frowned.

‘Marry me.’ Charlie’s eyes shone, full of hope. ‘I dunno why I didn’t think of it before. It’s obvious, isn’t it? We could get wed, and then we could live in Scotland as man and wife, and there’d be nothing your mum or anyone else could do about it.’

‘She could try to stop the wedding.’

‘Not if we eloped.’ He grinned at her. ‘Where is it couples run off to? Gretna something?’

‘Green,’ Helen said faintly. ‘Gretna Green.’

‘That’s in Scotland, isn’t it? We could get wed on the way, and then turn up as a married couple.’

‘But I couldn’t!’ Helen whispered, shocked. ‘My mother . . .’

‘Your mother wouldn’t know a thing about it. And by the time she found out, it would be too late.’ Charlie grinned. ‘Come on, what do you say?’

‘I – I don’t know what to say.’ Helen gaped at him, then at Antonio, who was staring openly now. She was too overwhelmed by the idea that someone actually loved her enough to want to marry her to think of anything else.

‘Then say yes.’

Helen opened and closed her mouth, but no sound came out. In the end it was Antonio who spoke up.

‘Blimey, mate, if you want the young lady to accept your proposal then you’re going to have to come up with a better one than that!’ he laughed.

Charlie glanced at her. Then, with a great effort and hanging on to the back of the chair for support, he slowly lowered himself on to his good knee.

Helen felt as if she were in a strange dream as he took her hand in his.

‘Helen Tremayne,’ his voice was solemn, but his eyes sparkled with mirth as they met hers. ‘will you please do me the great honour of agreeing to run away with me and be my wife?’

Helen looked down at him. All kinds of thoughts went through her head. This