The Innkeeper's Daughter (45 page)

Bella nodded. ‘Dr Lucan has spoken of it.’

‘She was a very beautiful woman.’

‘Was she?’

‘Very beautiful; in her features and in her spirit.’

The doctor’s eyes never left Bella’s face and Reuben, following his gaze, murmured, ‘
Aber ja!
Yes, indeed!’

Both men gave a small smile of remembrance as Bella’s cheeks flushed and each gave an undetectable sigh, wistfully wishing that lost youth might return.

Bella moistened her lips and looked again at Reuben. ‘I’m getting married,’ she told him.

Jamie put his arm around her shoulder. ‘So am I,’ he murmured.

Reuben put down his glass and held out his arms, and Bella moved away from Jamie to bend and kiss his cheek. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. ‘There you are,’ he said huskily to his companion. ‘What did I tell you?’

Bella didn’t hear the inner door open but Jamie did, and his wide smile encompassed Sarah, who was wiping her eyes on a handkerchief, Joe, who grinned back at him, Alice carrying baby Victoria, William bringing up the rear and giving him a thumbs-up; and Henry, who first looked hesitatingly at Jamie, who signalled for him to come, ran across to him.

Bella turned and gazed round the room as a sudden beam of sunlight broke through the stained-glass etching on the door and reception screen, sending a shower of iridescent rainbow hues dancing across the ceiling and walls of the saloon. Then she saw her mother and brothers and Alice gathered together, Henry by Jamie’s side, and Jamie with his hand outstretched towards her.

She stepped to his side and, slipping her hand in his, she rested her head against his shoulder, and he tenderly kissed her cheek. This, she thought joyfully, is the beginning of yet another chapter in our lives, and she raised her head to let her lips touch his.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

The Innkeeper’s Daughter
is a book of fiction. To the best of my knowledge there never was a Maritime Hotel, Inn or public house of that name in Hull, although during the nineteenth century, the period of this novel, there were hundreds of hostelries situated in the town. The Woodman Inn was a real place, but set in the West Riding of Yorkshire on the road between Castleford and Pontefract, where my forebears were innkeepers during the late nineteenth century. On a sentimental whim and in my capacity as an author, I have borrowed the name and transferred it to Holderness. The real Woodman Inn was knocked down to make way for the M62 motorway.

SOURCES

Books and information for general research:

And general information from various Internet sites including:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Val Wood
was born in Yorkshire and now lives in Beverley. She was the first winner of the Catherine Cookson Prize for Fiction.

Find out more about Val Wood’s novels by visiting her website at
www.valeriewood.co.uk

Also by Val Wood

THE HUNGRY TIDE

ANNIE

CHILDREN OF THE TIDE

THE ROMANY GIRL

EMILY

GOING HOME

ROSA’S ISLAND

THE DOORSTEP GIRLS

FAR FROM HOME

THE KITCHEN MAID

THE SONGBIRD

NOBODY’S CHILD

FALLEN ANGELS

THE LONG WALK HOME

RICH GIRL, POOR GIRL

HOMECOMING GIRLS

THE HARBOUR GIRL

For more information on Val Wood and her books, see her website at
www.valeriewood.co.uk

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THE INNKEEPER’S DAUGHTER
A BANTAM BOOK: 9780593069523
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781446497081

First published in Great Britain
in 2012 by Bantam Press
an imprint of Transworld Publishers

Copyright © Valerie Wood 2012

Valerie Wood has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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