Annie Violet by Maisie Stone

Author:Maisie Stone
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781839523151
Publisher: Brown Dog Books

Chapter 17

The Laurels, Canterbury.

* * *

‘More tea, Harriet?’ She shook her head. She had just met Jeremy’s little son, Robert, who had glanced curiously at her for a few moments before returning to play with his toys.

Harriet had been impressed with the Georgian house, with its acreage and stables, and she and Jeremy had spent a brief time in the windswept garden before returning to the welcome warmth of the house.

‘Gardens don’t look their best in November,’ Jeremy admitted, as they settled down in front of the roaring log fire. The parlour-maid entered with the tea-trolley and began to dispense tea and cakes.

‘I’ve never seen you in red before,’ said Jeremy, his eyes sweeping over her bright dress. ‘It suits you.’

Harriet shrugged. ‘Why, thank you. I like the colour in the winter. It’s just a simple day dress.’ She sat back in the armchair, smiling. ‘Mm, nice and warm in here. When I was up in Cumbria the weather was atrocious – it was a very severe winter that year, I don’t know whether you remember. ‘

Jeremy put his cup down and he gazed steadily at her. ‘I missed you, Harriet, when you went away. I know we only had a brief affair all those years ago, but I often thought about you. And I was bitterly disappointed when I heard you had gone for a whole year. I had hoped our friendship would develop into something more…’

‘Yes, I was sorry, too. But I received this offer of a post out of the blue. And it was too good an opportunity to miss. I’d always wanted to teach French, you see. I took Linguistics at university.’

‘So it was a private school?’ Jeremy asked. ‘And where was it again?’

Harriet smiled. ‘Keswick. Striking scenery up there. But I missed Kent, the gentle scenery and the orchards. I was supposed to be coming back for Christmas during the holidays. But I had a bad dose of influenza and couldn’t get back – very disappointing.’

‘So you didn’t come back for the summer holidays then?’ Jeremy asked, looking puzzled.

Harriet’s mind was in a frenzy, all these lies that were dripping off her lips. But she continued. ‘No, I went to Italy with a friend, it was amazing, we went to Rome…’ I have to change the subject, she thought.

‘You must miss your wife so much,’ she murmured. ‘What a terrible thing to happen, you must have been devastated.’

‘Yes, I miss her dreadfully. But time is a great healer. One has to look to the future, especially with the little one here.’

‘He must be a great comfort to you,’ Harriet said, looking over to the child, still playing happily with his bricks and toy cars on the carpet. ‘He’s a good boy!’

Jeremy went over and picked up his young son and sat him on his lap. ‘Kiss for daddy?’ he said, hugging him to his chest. And little Robert gave him a kiss and clung to his father. Harriet could see Jeremy was so fond of him and made a good father.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.