“Yes,” she said in a quiet voice.
“Yes?” he asked.
She laughed. “Yes!”
He surged up, catching her around the middle with his good arm and pulling her into a kiss. A proper kiss. Their first. She sank against him as he cradled the back of her head in his hand, his lips moving slowly over hers. She clung to the lapels of his jacket, desperate not to let this moment go.
When finally he broke away breathless, he stroked a thumb along the line of her jaw. “I was so certain you were going to say no. But since you didn’t…” He pulled out a slim package from the inside pocket of his uniform jacket. “I will get you a ring, but until then, perhaps you’ll accept this.”
She pulled the twine and brown paper from the package. It was a long, slim metal case with “Derwent” painted on the top. “You bought me pencils?”
“For your drawings.”
She threw her arms around him and kissed him. “You wonderful man!” She laughed and kissed him again. “Why would you ever think I would say no?”
He gently tapped the pad of his thumb against her lips. “Because I’ve never been the luckiest man.”
“That can’t be true,” she said softly.
“I was never academic. I never had a head for business. I joined the army because I didn’t know what to do with myself, but I was good at soldiering. I liked leading my men, knowing that what I was doing mattered. But then I was shot.”
“And now you’re better,” she said.
He kissed her again but didn’t respond, and understanding dawned in her.
“You’re leaving Highbury?”
“The Pioneer Corps needs officers.”
“But we just got engaged—”
“I have to go where the army sends me, Beth. I’ll write to you, and I’ll take every bit of my leave to come back to Highbury,” he said.
It was Colin all over again, only this time Graeme had asked her face-to-face and now they were engaged.
“What if you’re sent back to fight again?” she asked, gripping his hand.
He shook his head, testing his shoulder slightly and wincing. “I still have a ways to go before they’ll let me fight.”
“You said you were better. We shouldn’t have danced,” she said.
He smoothed a hand down her hair. “It was worth it. I’ll do everything I can to make you happy. I promise. And until we can live together properly, I’ll make sure you’re taken care of. My parents would love it if you would live in Colchester with them.”
“I can’t. I’m a land girl here,” she said.
“Not now. After the war,” he said.
“But you’ll be done with the army then,” she said.
He offered her a rueful smile. “It’s all I’ve ever been good at.”
“And what will I do then?” she asked. “Where will we live?”
“If I’m stationed at a permanent base, we can live there together.”
“If,” she said.
“My mother always wanted a daughter.”
Does your mother even know about me? Does your father?
“Now, shall we go back and share our happy news?” he asked, offering her his arm.
She stared at him, reservations creeping in. To Graeme, everything was all settled. Yet his proposal had thrown her life into chaos. She needed to write to Colin. She needed to explain what had happened while he’d been away fighting. Her stomach squeezed tight and sour. She dreaded him opening her letter, thinking that it would be filled with little stories about Highbury and cartoons of the people around her and instead finding that she’d chosen another man.
I don’t love you, Colin.
She glanced at Graeme from under her lashes. Did she love him? Did he love her? Men were supposed to talk about love when asking a woman to marry them, weren’t they? So why had he never mentioned it?
And yet now that she was engaged to Graeme, the thought of not becoming his wife was inconceivable.
She took a deep breath. They would figure everything out, one thing at a time.
? DIANA ?
A drink for the hostess of this fine party?”
Diana smiled at Father Devlin as she accepted a glass of white wine from Nurse Holt. “You have the nursing staff carrying your drinks now, Father Devlin?”
“The crutches make it rather difficult to be self-sufficient, I’m afraid. Nurse Holt was kind enough to humor me when I told her that the wine was for you,” said Father Devlin.
“Thank you,” Diana said to the younger woman, who dipped her head and scurried away. She slanted a look at the chaplain. “The nurses are all afraid of me, you know.”