The Hidden Letters by Lorna Cook

Author:Lorna Cook [Cook, Lorna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-11-02T12:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 32

CORDELIA

When the time comes, Cordelia says goodbye to Edwin at home, finding him in his room as he’s strapping up his kit bag. He’ll be flanked soon enough on the steps of the house by staff not travelling to the station; those wanting to wish him and the others well.

She is going to do as Isaac asks. She is going to stay behind, telling her parents she feels too unwell to wave them all off.

‘I’ll miss you so much,’ Cordelia says into Edwin’s shoulder as she hugs him. ‘Please, for God’s sake, do not die.’

He laughs. ‘I’ll do my utmost to stay alive.’

‘Oh Edwin.’ She holds him tighter and feels the harshness of salty tears sting her eyes.

‘And if I do die,’ he says, ‘you’ve still got Clive. Heir and the spare and all that.’

She steps back and looks at him with a half-hearted smile. ‘Yes,’ she says with mock-seriousness. ‘That’s true.’

On the steps of Pencallick House, she watches as the horse and carts are loaded with kit bags and household staff while Edwin, Mother and Father are squeezed into the back of the Austin motorcar awaiting departure. She looks for Isaac, but he isn’t here. He’s already gone on ahead with the outdoor staff.

This is it. Her brother, the men, are all going to war. How quickly it has happened, when it should never have happened at all.

‘Wait,’ she says, without thinking. She doesn’t have her hat but she’s not going back now. ‘Wait.’ She runs forward, opens the door herself, steps on the tread board and hurls herself into the spare seat next to the chauffeur.

‘Changed your mind?’ Edwin leans forward and says. ‘Not going to cry on me again, are you?’

‘I might,’ she says over her shoulder as the motorcar departs. She feels his hand on her shoulder comfortingly and places hers on top of it for a moment. ‘I just might.’

At the station the train is ready and waiting, steam billowing around them and fogging Cordelia’s vision. It’s pandemonium with tearful wives and sisters bidding their men farewell. Men who yesterday were footmen and stable hands are now soldiers and are not quite willing to get onto the train until the very last second, jostling each other for space on the platform. No one wants to miss precious time with loved ones. Who knows when they’ll return to embrace them again?

The rush starts as the stationmaster announces the train’s departure and she cannot see him – Isaac. She cannot see him anywhere. She holds Edwin tightly, kisses him on his cheek as her parents begin a long farewell and then Cordelia is gone, rushing along the platform looking for him. She said she wouldn’t come but now she is here she has to see him. Even if she cannot go to him, she has to see him. She has to look at him one last time. He has to know she was there, that she loved him too much to stay behind.

Through the steam the men lug kit bags onto shoulders and make their way with bright enthusiasm onto the train.

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.