The Last Letter from Juliet by Melanie Hudson

Author:Melanie Hudson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2019-08-05T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

Juliet

Twenty-four hours in Cornwall

Edward was nowhere to be seen in the Bugle when I arrived. With the phrase, ‘let sleeping dogs lie’ floating around in my mind, I smiled at the barman, explained that the person I had hoped to find wasn’t in the bar and turned to leave. Which is when I saw him – Edward – standing in the doorway. His left arm in a sling and a deep, angry-looking gash across his jaw line. His expression reflected my own – a perfect mixture of adoration, longing and fear.

It was this particular expression, as if captured forever in a photograph, that my mind’s eye would return to the most in later years. It was a snapshot of a moment, unplanned and instant, that sealed my fate irrevocably. When Lottie had said he was married, I had placed Edward firmly in the category of one of those men my mother had warned me about – an opportunist, a coddiwompler – who lived in the moment, without thought of the consequences. I had locked him away as the sort of man who could – who would – move on to another woman without pause, never able to develop a deep, lasting, emotional connection, and I had made that assumption, pushing Edward away, in the flash of a moment without thinking it through. But as our eyes locked in the doorway of the Bugle and the energy between us ignited in an undeniable moment of truth, I knew that Edward was deeply in love with me. It was in his eyes, in his shortened breath, his smile. It was a love that could not be mimicked, not at such a spontaneous moment.

The owner of the Bugle, Mr Palmer, walked into the lounge bar from a private room. He handed Edward a suitcase with a smile.

‘Your car has just pulled up outside, Sir,’ he said.

If Edward heard Mr Palmer, he didn’t respond. Mr Palmer looked in my direction and put the suitcase down on the floor.

‘Hello, Edward,’ I whispered, motionless.

‘Hello, Juliet. Poor timing seems to be our nemesis.’

I didn’t respond, mainly because I didn’t know what to say, until …

‘Why did you come here?’ I asked.

He led me by the arm to a corner of the bar.

‘I wanted to know you were all right, after the Empire bomb. I was out of mind with worry. I couldn’t find you and …’

‘You shouldn’t have come,’ I whispered. ‘Everything is different now. I’m different now. I’m married. And so are you.’

‘Who told you I’m married?’ His voice was tired, strained.

‘Lottie Lanyon.’

‘When?’

‘After I left your cottage. On that last day.’

He shook his head. Mr Palmer coughed by the door.

‘I have to go, but it isn’t – wasn’t – what you think. But I can’t tell you about it now – not here. I wish you’d come to see me, to ask.’ He rubbed his forehead, frustrated.

I sighed with the sadness of it all. The lack of sleep, the strong measure of gin and not to mention the war, was starting to take its toll.

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.