A Perfect Proposal (34 page)

‘Uncle Eric is a jolly good chap,’ replied Luke.

‘“Jolly good chap”! Luke! If you talk like that you won’t be allowed back into America!’

‘Not for a while maybe, but that’s fine by me.’

Sophie sighed, hoping he wouldn’t notice. The thought that he was going to be in England for a little while, albeit in London, was quite wonderful.

Pudding was as delicious as Moira had made it sound. Bananas fried in butter with brown sugar and rum, with lots of clotted cream stirred in, was delivered in little bowls. Another bowl of cream was put there on the table ‘just in case’.

‘What is this?’ asked Luke, picking up the cream and examining it.

‘Clotted cream,’ said Moira. ‘A Cornish speciality, although I think they make it in Devon too. You collect the cream from several days’ milk and gently scald it. Then you leave it for a while before skimming off the top and it thickens up.’

‘It seems like a heart attack in a bowl,’ said Luke, wondering at Sophie as she forced her spoon into the cream and levered some on to her plate.

‘If you take lots of exercise you’re fine,’ said Moira.

Sophie giggled and had to take a sip of wine to disguise it. She couldn’t help connecting exercise with what she and Luke would be doing quite soon.

‘I’ll leave you to it,’ said Moira, satisfied her guests had everything they wanted.

They didn’t finish the flambéed bananas. Their eyes met over their half-eaten puddings and Luke took hold of Sophie’s hand and led her up the stairs.

The bed had been turned down and the beautiful quilt taken off and folded on a chair. A tiny fireplace that Sophie had assumed was for decoration now had a fire in it. Tea lights were dotted about creating a truly romantic atmosphere.

‘I think Moira thinks we’re on our honeymoon,’ said Luke.

‘Something like that,’ Sophie agreed.

‘It’s very pretty,’ said Luke, ‘but I couldn’t want you more if we had to make love in a barn.’

Sophie felt herself glow with desire and happiness. ‘A bed
is a lot more comfo—’ She stopped as Luke took her in his arms, kissing her and fumbling with her clothes.

Jumpers, tights, her camisole and skirt were wrenched from her, while she fought through buttons, his shirt and an undershirt until she got to his trousers and he took over. ‘I always thought you were buttoned up,’ she said breathlessly.

‘Well, I’m not now,’ he said, stepping out of his jeans and taking her into his arms. They both fell on to the bed, panting and laughing and naked.

They slept in each other’s arms, their limbs tangled. Neither of them seemed able to detach themselves from the other, the skin-to-skin contact was too heady, too sensual.

Sophie woke first. Her arm had gone to sleep and she withdrew it from under Luke as gently as she could, half wanting him to wake up so they could make love again. Not that she could complain of being neglected, she thought, smiling as she tried to remember just how many times they had done so.

She lay there, listening to him breathe, savouring her memories and enjoying the sheer bliss of waking up with the man she loved. She could admit it to herself now. She did love him; it wasn’t just a crush. Then, unable to drop off again and realising that Luke, snoring gently, was deeply asleep, she slipped out of bed and went over to the window to get enough light to see her watch. Half past seven. A perfectly reasonable time to get up, in fact.

She managed to get washed and dressed without disturbing Luke and went downstairs. There was no sign of Moira either although there was a note on the table:
If you’re up before I’m back, help yourself to tea etc. Breakfast when I get back from seeing to my neighbour’s hens!

Sophie decided not to bother with tea. She wanted to go out herself, to revel in her new state of happiness.

The shore was as appealing as it had been last evening, only today she saw birds running along the water’s edge, their bills dipping in and out of the surf. Last night it had been magical and moonlit and serene, today it was a bustling strand supporting birds and fish and insects. The yachts were bobbing up and down more and the sound of the halyards on the masts was brisker, more businesslike. Sophie found it just as appealing if in a different way.

But it was the churchyard that drew her. It was almost as if she wanted to tell Matilda’s grandparents about what had happened, how happy she was. She smiled as she thought this: Matilda’s grandparents would be horrified at the thought of a young unmarried couple spending the night together.

Sophie hadn’t been a virgin when Luke made love to her so passionately but he was only her second lover. For Sophie sex was only possible if she was truly in love and while she knew from experience that ‘in love’ didn’t necessarily last for ever, she knew that she did love Luke. And if he didn’t love her as much, or if it didn’t last for ever, she had gone into it true to her own standards of behaviour.

She found the grave and stood over it, feeling awash with emotion and the afterglow of wonderful sex. After breakfast they could go back to the house, explore it in daylight and take pictures with her phone – it had been far too dark the day before. Sophie wasn’t someone who was constantly snapping away but Matilda would love pictures. Even if the house was run-down it was still there. So many big houses had been pulled down over the years and Matilda would be thrilled to discover this one had survived.

Sophie spent time exploring the rest of the graveyard,
reading all the inscriptions on the graves that were legible, until her stomach rumbled and she decided to go back. Even if Luke wasn’t awake yet, she needed food!

There was a car parked in front of the house; Sophie could see it from a little way away. It must be Moira’s, she thought. She probably parked it somewhere else usually, but had to deliver something to the house. But it didn’t feel right. It was the wrong sort of car.

As she got nearer the front door opened and Luke came out with a woman, not Moira, and she had her arm linked through his. The pair reminded Sophie of a just-married couple, about to go on honeymoon in a shower of confetti.

She tried to hurry, to dispel the picture that was like a dream but real, and all wrong. She recognised the woman now, it was Ali, and she was looking up at Luke as if she adored him.

Sophie felt dizzy suddenly. How had that woman magicked her way here? Wasn’t it enough that she was sorting out Luke’s life for him from afar? And what right had she to be looking at Luke like that? Well, maybe she did adore him, but Luke was hers!

He was talking on a mobile phone, wearing a suit that looked crumpled. He hadn’t packed a suit. Ali must have brought it for him. His tie wasn’t straight. Why was he wearing a tie? What had happened to the world? What could possibly have happened to make it all go so horribly wrong, so quickly?

‘Hello!’ she said when she was near enough to be heard. ‘What’s going on?’

They both turned to her, away from Moira who was standing in the doorway behind them.

‘Oh hi, Sophie!’ said Ali briskly. ‘I’ve come to take Luke back to London. There’s an emergency.’ She spoke as if she was airlifting him out of a war zone, or at the very least
getting him out of prison, or boarding school – not the very floor of heaven.

‘Oh!’ Sophie’s voice was high. ‘Has someone died?’

‘No, no. Nothing like that,’ went on Ali, ‘but no one except Luke can sort it out. Not even me.’ She gave him another loving look. ‘Although I did try, we can’t manage without Luke.’ Luke was still on the phone. ‘We can give you a ride back to the station if you like, Sophie. We won’t abandon you down here.’ Ali was apparently unable to believe that anyone could be happy this far away from a major metropolis.

Luke put the phone into his pocket. ‘There’s a crisis at the office,’ said Luke. ‘I have to go back immediately.’

Ali was still clutching on to him. ‘And I tracked you down! Wasn’t that clever of me? I feel so proud of myself,’ she said. ‘I knew you were in Cornwall but it was only when Luke called me last night that I knew where. These lanes are a nightmare!’

‘What sort of crisis?’ asked Sophie. ‘I didn’t think you’d even set up the office yet.’

Ali gave Sophie a look which indicated Sophie would never understand even if she did have time to explain. ‘Luke’s needed ASAP, honey, and I’m going to drive him to the airport and we’ll fly up. Are you sure you don’t want a ride?’ Ali said this as if she was now certain the answer would be no.

‘No thank you,’ said Sophie. ‘I have commitments down here, not to mention a hire car.’

‘You could just leave that, Sophie,’ said Luke. ‘We could get someone to take it back for you.’ He glanced at Moira before going on, ‘We can come back to see your relatives.’

‘Why would you want to see Sophie’s relatives?’ Ali said wonderingly, as if this was the weirdest thing she’d ever heard.

‘No, there’s no reason why Luke should see them,’ said Sophie carefully, aware that their idyll had been shattered and interested to find that she could still walk and talk in a fairly normal way.

Luke turned to Ali. ‘I need to speak to Sophie.’

‘Honey, there’s no time for long goodbyes.’ She clutched at his sleeve. ‘Really, this is urgent!’

‘It’s all right,’ said Sophie, ‘Luke doesn’t need to speak to me. We can say goodbye now.’

Luke seemed momentarily torn. ‘It really is an emergency, Sophie.’

‘She knows that,’ said Ali. ‘I explained.’

Sophie almost told her that she hadn’t explained anything but she didn’t think there was any point.

‘I must give you some money,’ said Luke. He reached into his inside pocket and withdrew a wad of notes. He held them out to her and she stepped back as if he’d offered her a snake.

‘I don’t need money!’

‘You do, Sophie. You know you do.’ He continued to hold out the money.

‘No, really, I don’t.’

She felt to take money from him would confirm her as cheap – the girl he was happy to spend the night with, have sex with, but just as happy to leave in the morning. Being honourable, he had to pay her, of course. She couldn’t have felt more humiliated if he’d hit her. She stepped back a few more steps to stop him thrusting it into her hands.

Luke, accepting defeat, turned and put the money into Moira’s hands instead. She took it without thinking.

Ali marched over to the boot of the car, and put into it the overnight bag – Sophie’s overnight bag. Presumably Sophie’s clothes had been tipped out on the bed? She looked at her watch. ‘Come on, Luke.’

Just for a moment Luke held Sophie’s gaze but she looked
away. She didn’t want his unspoken apology, she just wanted him to go, before she embarrassed herself by crying or something. ‘Sophie—’

‘Oh, just go! You’ll miss your flight.’

Then she turned and stomped into the house.

‘They’ve gone,’ said Moira.

Sophie was still in the hall, not knowing quite what to do.

‘Come into the kitchen.’ Moira took her arm so Sophie had no choice but to follow. ‘I’ll make you some tea. And you haven’t had breakfast. You’ll feel better after something to eat.’

‘I don’t know what happened just there,’ said Sophie.

‘It was all very fast. That woman marched in with a suit bag over her arm, asking for Luke. I told her he was upstairs and asked if she wanted to wait but she just went straight up. Luke was in the shower. Not long afterwards they came down. He was wearing the suit.’

Sophie pulled out a chair and sat down. Her knees were shaking and she thought she must be suffering from shock.

‘Then what?’

‘Luke came in here and put your phone on the table and said, “Make sure Sophie gets this.” And the woman said, “I think there’s a message for her.”’

Sophie took the phone. There was no message indicated but she flicked through to ‘received messages’ and saw a number she recognised. ‘Oh no,’ she said, and opened it.
Saw Mandy. Still miss you, Soph. Come back to me?

‘What?’ said Moira.

‘It’s from an old boyfriend. He sometimes texts me when he’s drunk.’ Sophie considered. ‘I can’t decide if I want it to have been Luke who read it, because we were sharing the
phone and he sort of had the right – or Ali.’ She made a face.