Midnight Sun's Magic by Betty Neels

Author:Betty Neels
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 1979-07-30T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

THEY ARRIVED so early in the morning at Vlissingen that there was no time and no inclination for breakfast. Annis had a cup of tea in her cabin and then joined Jake and Cor as the disembodied voice from the loudspeakers asked everyone to go to their cars. There was no delay; they were off the ferry, through Customs and driving down a narrow unmade lane before she had quite realised that they were actually in Holland.

‘About half an hour,’ said Jake beside her, ‘it’s motorway all the way.’ He smiled. ‘It’s a pleasant morning in which to see Holland for the first time.’

And indeed it was; the pearly sky was pinkened by the sun’s rays and the flat green land lay serene around them. Annis could see factory chimneys in the distance and the fringe of Middelburg, its orderly rows of suburban houses and flats concealing the lovely heart of the city.

Jake sat back in his corner, watching her, telling her a little of the country they were passing through until he observed: ‘There’s the TV tower at Goes,’ and said something to Cor in his own language. Cor laughed as he answered him and Annis suddenly felt scared; Jake’s mother, until that moment a nebulous figure in the safely distant future, was here, waiting for her. Panic churned her insides and she let out a held breath when he said placidly: ‘Feeling scared, Annis? No need.’ He put out a hand and took hers in it, engulfing it comfortingly. ‘The town centre is down that street we’re just passing, we go down the next one.’

It was a wide thoroughfare, tree-lined and with rather heavy red brick houses set in well-cared-for gardens, and she was conscious of a vague disappointment. She had expected something really Dutch, like a picture by one of the Old Masters. She wasn’t disappointed. Cor sent the car down a narrow road which took them back towards the town’s centre and presently it opened into a narrow street beside a wide canal lined with trees, and beyond them, facing the water, houses, tall and narrow with gabled roofs topping their three or four storeys. Cor stopped the car before one of the tallest, its great windows surrounded by elaborate plaster work, its massive door heavily carved.

‘Home,’ said Jake, and bent and kissed her gently before giving her back her hand.

Cor went ahead of them, across the brick pavement, then opened the door and stood aside for them to go inside. A glass vestibule opened into a narrow lofty hall, carpeted in a rich shade of burgundy, its white-painted walls lighted by crystal sconces, and at one side, under a wide arch, Annis caught a glimpse of a staircase. Walking beside Jake as he stomped along on his gutter crutches, she thought how different it was from what she had imagined it might be—and then didn’t think at all as he leaned forward and opened a door at the end of the hall.

The room was

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