Hidden Cottage (52 page)
‘You mentioned it just once, when you first told me about them and why this house is so special to you and it stuck in my mind. I had hoped to find the record for your birthday, but better late than never.’
He leant over and kissed her again. ‘You did a far better job than me. I tried years ago to get hold of something they’d recorded and got nowhere; I kept hitting a dead end and eventually gave up.’
‘That’s the magic of the internet – it’s so huge these days it’s easier to search for things now. But it’s not me you need to thank, it’s Simon; he was the one who kept on digging. Once he started, he simply wouldn’t let it go.’
Studying the photograph on the front of the LP cover, which showed two strikingly regal women sitting bolt upright in front of a piano, with the title –
Brahms and Schubert Piano Duets by Gretchen and Lillian Lampton
– Owen said, ‘It’s weird seeing them as young women when I only knew them as old. Though to be fair, they probably weren’t that elderly; I guess they seemed old because they were so badly disfigured from the fire they’d survived.’
‘Not forgetting that to a young boy, anyone over twenty seems ancient,’ Mia said as he turned the LP over to read the track listing on the back.
He smiled. ‘They were probably about the same age as Muriel is now, and who would dare call her old?’
He put the LP and CD back in the hatbox and placed it safely out of harm’s way on the floor in front of the table. He then shifted his chair nearer to Mia and took her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. For a few moments he stared out at the water, its silvery surface glistening like mercury in the moonlight. It was very quiet; the music over at Castle Ashby had finished and the only sound came from the moths attracted to the light from the lanterns, their wings flapping like capes.
‘I have something to ask you,’ she said.
He turned. ‘Actually, I have something to ask you as well.’
‘OK, you go first then.’
‘It’s about our arrangement. You living in Olney and staying with me as and when. And . . . well, I was wondering if you wanted to review matters.’
‘Funnily enough, that’s exactly what I wanted to ask you.’
‘Really?’
‘Tattie and I have been talking—’
‘About our sleeping arrangements?’
‘No,’ she said with a smile. ‘Her eco party bag business is growing fast and she needs somewhere bigger than their loft to work out of and I’ve suggested she takes over the flat at the shop.’ She paused a beat. ‘So I was going to ask you if I—’
‘Yes,’ he said.
‘Yes what?’
‘Yes
please
?’
She tipped her head back and laughed. ‘No, I meant, what are you saying yes to?’
‘Yes to you moving in with me. Come on, Mia, you know I’ve wanted you to do it right from the start.’
‘I know, but I needed some time on my own to find my feet.’
‘And you’ve found them?’
‘I think so.’
‘That’s good. Now we can get on with the serious business of living together and shocking Little Pelham all over again.’
He touched the side of her face with great gentleness and kissed her. It was a kiss of intense feeling, tender yet passionate and filled her with the deepest love for him.
For a while neither of them spoke, each absorbed in their own thoughts. In the stillness, Owen bent forward and passed her glass of champagne to her and picked up his own.
‘You made an excellent toast earlier,’ he said. ‘Now I’d like to amend it slightly. Here’s to
us
and The Hidden Cottage – may it always bring us happiness.’
Gazing at his face in the candlelight – that face she had come to love so much – she smiled. ‘It will,’ she said with great certainty. ‘It will.’
A Breath of Fresh Air
Time for a Change
Airs and Graces
A Sense of Belonging
Act of Faith
The Holiday
Precious Time
Hidden Talents
Paradise House
Love and Devotion
Gardens of Delight
Tell it to the Skies
It’s the Little Things
The Queen of New Beginnings
Promises, Promises
The Real Katie Lavender
AN ORION EBOOK
First published in Great Britain in 2012 by Orion Books
This ebook first published in 2013 by Orion Books
Copyright © Erica James 2012
The right of Erica James to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN
: 978 1 4091 3086 4
Orion Books
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Orion House
5 Upper Saint Martin’s Lane
London,
WC2H 9EA
A Hachette UK Company