A Place Like Home by Rosamunde Pilcher

Author:Rosamunde Pilcher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

* * *

His words made me feel wise and old. Sad and happy at the same time. I said, ‘If I asked you, would you come back to Polmeor and see us all? Would you come, or would it be too full of memories?’

‘I’d come. I’d have come days ago, only I thought it might embarrass you all.’

‘Oh, Jonathan, how stupid we all are! Mary and I didn’t really want to come here this evening because we thought it was going to be so uncomfortable and difficult … seeing you again, I mean.’

‘And is it?’

I very nearly kissed him. I said, ‘No.’

‘In that case, let’s pretend we’ve only just met each other, for the first time. Let’s pretend that I’ve taken a fancy to you, and I’m going to ask you to come out to dinner with me. We’ll find some crafty nook hung about with lobster pots and we’ll eat crabs or clotted cream or whatever happens to be on the menu. Would you like that?’

Someone called my name. We looked up and saw Mary and Marcus coming across the twilit lawn towards us. And a curious thing happened. It was like watching a film when the projector suddenly breaks, and you are left watching a single frame, a picture frozen to stillness. That instant was crystallised, for me, forever; the expression on Mary’s face when she saw us sitting together, the blue dusk of the garden, the scent in the air of orange blossoms; the long lighted windows of the old house. And Jonathan.

My love. My only love.

It was over in a second. Mary was saying, ‘We’ve been looking everywhere for you,’ and Jonathan stood up to greet her. He took her in his arms and kissed her as though indeed she were his sister. And Mary hugged him back and said, ‘Oh, Jonathan, how wonderful to see you again.’

I remembered then how the day had started, with the wind blowing, and the bright sunshine, and Mary coming across the garden at Polmeor to tell me that Jonathan was back, and we had both been filled with foreboding.

But now … Now I felt that anything could happen. Thousand-mile journeys do begin with the first step. Jonathan took my hand and pulled me to my feet, and I had visions of us, hand-in-hand, plodding along down the years with ruck-sacks on our backs.

I began to laugh. He asked me why I was laughing, but I didn’t tell him. But perhaps, one day, I will.

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