The Record Set Right by Lauren Willig

Author:Lauren Willig
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

Carrington Cross, 1918

THE CUPS CLATTERED ON THE tray as I carried it up to Nicholas’s room. Ivy was still missing—­celebrating, undoubtedly.

I paused outside the door, making sure my blouse was buttoned all the way up, before opening the door with one hip. For once, I was grateful for the gloom of Nicholas’s room, grateful that it hid my crumpled skirt, my flushed cheeks. I was exhilarated; I was terrified. Nice girls didn’t do what I had just done.

But it was Edward.

It’s you, Millie. It’s always been you. The tray was heavy, but I didn’t feel it. The world was moondust and thistledown; the long war was finally over, and I was in love with Edward, always Edward.

In the back of my head, I knew, I suppose, that there was Pansy to be dealt with, and years of grinding work making the farm pay again; worries about the roof and arguments with the bank. But that was for later, not now.

Now there was only the giddy euphoria that came of vows made and received, of surrendering oneself, entirely and foolishly.

My euphoria received a slight check as the smell of Nicholas’s room hit me, the smell of unwashed sheets, smuggled brandy, and despair. Nicholas lay on the bed, not reading, not sleeping, just lying there, staring at a crack in the ceiling, one of the cracks that was meant, before today, to have been repaired with Pansy’s money.

The record was stuck in a groove. The joys of life are flying. . . . The joys of life are flying. . . .

I set down the tray before taking the needle off the record. “The war is over. Mrs. Dean from the post office rang. The announcement was made at eleven this morning.”

They said that in London there was cheering and celebrating, bonfires and dancing in the streets, but in Nicholas’s room there was only a horrible stillness. He turned his face to the wall, so I could see only the good side. “Am I expected to be happy?”

I sat tentatively on the edge of the bed. “Relieved, perhaps?”

“Why?” The savagery in his voice took me aback. When he turned, it was almost a shock to see the ridged flesh, the empty socket where his left eye had been. “I’m done for.”

I thought of all the men who were truly done for, the men who hadn’t come home. “You’re alive.”

“I’m a monster.” He looked at me straight on, giving me the full effect of his distorted face. “What am I meant to do? Set myself up as a sideshow freak? I might as well be in the grave as rot here in Carrington.”

“No one’s holding you here.”

“This is.” Nicholas waved a hand in the direction of his face. “No one will want me now.”

I took his hand and squeezed. “Don’t be absurd.”

“You wouldn’t think of marrying me, would you, Millie?” I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. “You loved me once.”

“I love you now.” I wasn’t lying, not really. I did love him.

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