OF DREAMS AND CEREMONIES by Julie Bozza

Author:Julie Bozza [Bozza, Julie]
Format: epub
Publisher: Manifold Press
Published: 2013-11-14T05:00:00+00:00

eight

Their wedding night had been spent in the luxuries of the best room in a manor house; their honeymoon would be spent in an isolated cottage on the Lizard Peninsula of Cornwall. Not that they were exactly roughing it, as the cottage belonged to a friend of Robert's and had been done up in a suitably traditional style but with no expense or mod-con spared. Also, Dave had to laugh at the English definition of 'isolated', as the village of Lizard was no further away than a ten-or fifteen-minute stroll.

Still, they had a magnificent view all to themselves, with the only other human construction in sight an old circle of standing stones on top of a steep rise to the north of them. Otherwise there was grassy moorland, with a sheltering hill close behind them, and in front - to the west - nothing but the edge of a high cliff, with the ground to the north descending to craggy rocks, then continuing on until eventually curving round to the west. Beyond all of that was the ocean. The beautiful, powerful ocean stretching all the way to a distant horizon. The place was quite breath-taking.

"Stunning," was Nicholas's muttered verdict on their first evening there as the sun began westering. "Stunning." He was, unnervingly, loitering almost right on the cliff edge, and with his hands jammed in his jeans pockets, too, so he wouldn't be able to grab onto anything if he tripped over his own clumsy feet or lost his balance.

"Mate," said Dave, easing up near him - though not too near. "Come back here, won't you? I am not going to lose you when we've only been married a day. And especially not over a cliff. It would make me seem - a bit too laid-back."

"But take a look down here! It's like we've got our own little private beach."

First Dave had heard of it. He sidled a little closer, and carefully peered over. A long way down - a long way down at the foot of the cliff, there was a crescent of pure white sand between two sharp dark outcrops of rock, with gorgeous turquoise water lapping gently on this mild day. "Beautiful," he said. And he'd thought Australia had cornered the market on beautiful beaches. But then he looked at the surrounds, which were mostly sheer cliffs. "We're never getting down there, though. I don't know if you'd even want to land a boat. They have pretty high tides here, don't they?"

"Not as high as South Wales, but two or three metres on a regular basis."

"And all those rocks," Dave continued, figuring he'd better quash any of Nicholas's whimsies before they turned into wants. "Not the place to go taking chances in boats."

"No," Nicholas agreed. "This area is known for its shipwrecks. All the 'romance' of the high seas!"

"Right. Not exactly the sort of romance we're after just now." Dave turned away, and looked for alternatives. "We could go explore those standing stones."

Nicholas obligingly came away from the cliff edge, but cast him a wry look.

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