Homecoming Girls (43 page)

‘You must be very proud.’ Lorenzo offered his congratulations, thinking despondently that Jewel wouldn’t want to leave this happy family to return with him.

‘I am,’ Wilhelm said, drawing up a chair beside him. ‘We never thought that it would happen.’

When the maid brought hot coffee and bread and chicken, he asked her to slip upstairs and ask Miss Jewel if she would come down. ‘Please just tell her that I wish to speak to her urgently. Don’t say anything about a visitor.’

The girl glanced at Lorenzo and gave a little grin. ‘No, Mr Dreumel. I won’t.’

They heard Jewel’s voice calling to someone on the top landing and Wilhelm, rising swiftly, said, ‘Excuse me a moment. I’ve just remembered that there’s something I must do.’ He headed in the direction of the reception area.

‘Papa! Where are you? Papa?’

From his seat Lorenzo saw Jewel come down the stairs into the hall and look about her. The maid who had brought the coffee appeared and pointed towards the sitting room. Jewel turned to come in and saw Lorenzo, who rose from his chair, almost knocking over the small table which held the crockery.

She stood stock still in the doorway. ‘Lorenzo?’ she whispered. ‘How – how did you get here?’

He walked towards her and held out his hands for hers, drawing her into the room. ‘By railroad. By walking. By coach. Through snow and blizzards. And it was worth every minute of discomfort, every chilblain, each and every frozen finger, every snowdrift and icy blast just to see you again. I’ve missed you so much,’ he added softly. ‘I haven’t smiled since you left, nor uttered any glad word; and yet I couldn’t write what was in my heart. Words on paper were not enough to convey what I feel for you.’

‘Lorenzo!’ she breathed. ‘I’ve missed you too, so much, yet could not be so forward as to say so without some word of affection from you. How could I? It’s not for women to display their feelings, no matter how strong.’

He drew her close and kissed her cheek. ‘That must change immediately, for I want – need – to know what you feel for me. I need to know that you love me as much as I love you. That you’ve thought of me every day since you left me, as I have thought of you.’ He swallowed hard. ‘I cannot wait to make you my wife so that I can show you every day how much I care. Tell me that you feel the same.’

‘I do,’ she murmured. ‘I think I have loved you for ever, and I never knew that you were always there, waiting for my return.’

And so, my dearest Clara, I come to the conclusion of my letter. My darling Lorenzo has asked me to be his wife and I have so joyfully accepted; we are to be married in two months’ time here in Dreumel’s Creek. Papa gladly gave his consent and will give me away, and Mama said how strange life is, and who would have thought that all those years ago when she and I left San Francisco and Lorenzo and I both wept at the losing of a childhood friend that we would come together again so happily
.

You’ll be pleased to hear that at last I know who I am! I am Jewel Newmarch-Dreumel, born in America of an English father and a Chinese mother, adopted daughter of the dearest parents in the world, and soon to be the wife of a beloved Italian American, who, after our marriage, will take me home to San Francisco, where we will have another wedding. We shall be blessed in St Mary’s Cathedral and I will wear my red Chinese cheongsam in honour of my Chinese mother and family; Pinyin will stand by my other side for my father, Edward Newmarch, and my mother, Chang Tsui
.

I wish you could be here with me, my dear Clara, as I also wish that I could be with you when you wed your faithful Thomas in St Mary’s Church in Hull. But we will be together in spirit as we each celebrate our homecoming
.

Yours for ever in love and friendship
,

Jewel
.

Val Wood
was born in Yorkshire, where she still lives. Her first novel,
The Hungry Tide
, was the first winner of the Catherine Cookson Prize for Fiction.