The Hasty Marriage by Betty Neels

Author:Betty Neels
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 1977-08-23T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

IT WAS most unfortunate that by the time they reached Harwich, the weather had changed very much for the worse; clouds which had been hovering on the horizon all day suddenly massed themselves together, blown by a freak gale, bringing not only rain with it, but thunder and lightning as well. Laura didn’t like storms, and she paled a little with each flash and moved, almost without knowing it, nearer Reilof, so that when they went on board she sighed with relief and went straight to her cabin before joining her companions in the bar.

‘Tonic water?’ suggested Reilof with a sidelong glance at her pale face, and when they had finished their drinks and Uncle Wim had voiced his intention to go to his cabin without delay, Reilof suggested that they might go on deck for a little while. The rain had ceased by now and the storm was a mere muttering in the distance, and only the wind howled and sighed around them. Laura, her hair in a splendid tangle, clung to a nice solid rail and looked with loathing at the heaving water below.

‘It’s going to be rough,’ she observed in a hollow voice, and was irritated by her companion’s cheerful, ‘Oh, I imagine so—there’s a gale force wind.’ He dismissed this disquieting news carelessly and went on, ‘Take a look behind you, Laura; you won’t be seeing England again for a little while.’

She didn’t care if she never saw it again. She said in a carefully controlled voice, ‘I’m going to be sick,’ and Reilof, who had never been sick in his life, gave her a startled look, said: ‘My God, so you are,’ and proceeded to deal with the situation with a calm matter-of-factness which, if she hadn’t been feeling quite so ghastly, would have earned Laura’s approbation. As it was, she was only too thankful to have someone there to hold her head, and presently, when the worst was over, to help her down to her cabin. Here she made a great effort to pull herself together, but Reilof took no notice at all of her rather halfhearted protestations that she was feeling fine, but laid her out on her bunk, took off her shoes, covered her with a blanket, wiped her face with a damp towel and rang for the stewardess. Laura didn’t see him go, for the cabin was revolving and dipping in a most alarming manner and she had shut her eyes; when she opened them again it was the kindly face of the stewardess which she saw hovering above her.

‘Yer ‘usband says yer ter ‘ave this, Mrs van Meerum,’ she said in a cheerful cockney voice, ‘a nice drop o’ brandy.’

‘Ugh,’ said Laura, drank it obediently and mumbled that she would be sick again at any moment, then went soundly to sleep.

She slept until shortly before they landed and woke to a still tossing ship which miraculously didn’t matter any more, although she felt very hollow. But fortified by the

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