A Summer to Remember (36 page)
Nina nodded. ‘Right,’ she said.
‘Are you okay, Nina?’ Olivia asked. ‘You look quite strange all of a sudden.’
‘No, I’m fine,’ she said but Olivia was right – she suddenly felt very floaty, as if the world had tilted and she along with it.
She left the dining room and crossed the hall to the living room, taking a deep breath because she knew whom she would find in there. For it wasn’t Billy who was waiting for her. It was Justin.
Justin had his back to Nina as she walked into the room, but turned around to face her when he heard her footsteps. He was wearing a sky-blue shirt, which made his blue eyes seem even brighter than normal, but his smile was hesitant.
‘Hello, Nina,’ he said. ‘I guess my little secret is out now.’
Nina stared at him, feeling as if she couldn’t breathe, let alone speak. It just seemed so strange to see him standing there in the living room at the mill and – this time – he wasn’t going to run away.
‘I don’t understand,’ she said at last.
‘No,’ he said. ‘I think I’ve got some explaining to do.’
Nina nodded. ‘Yes, I think you have.’
Justin took a deep breath, his hands clasped together in front of him as if he was praying. ‘I’m Billy,’ he began. ‘Justin William Milton. Dad wanted to call me Justin, you see, and Mum wanted to call me William. Then William became Billy.’
‘I’m still trying to get my head around this,’ Nina said. ‘
You’re
Billy?’
He nodded. ‘But I stopped using that name when I started work. I seemed to be more of a Justin in the workplace. Billy just didn’t fit me there. Does that make sense?’
Nina sighed. ‘Right now, I’m not sure that
anything
makes any sense,’ she said.
They stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity and then something occurred to Nina. Why hadn’t she noticed the photos of Billy – Justin – that were around the room? She looked at a collection of them now on a mahogany table. They were mostly group photographs of him with his brothers where they were laughing and messing around. In one, he was wearing a cap; in another, he was wearing a pair of sunglasses. Another showed him in profile. It wouldn’t have been immediately obvious to Nina, even if she had studied them closely, that this boy, Billy, was the same man she knew as Justin. Except for one photograph. The one of him with his brothers in which he’d been looking directly at the camera. The one that Olivia had found in the drawer.
‘You hid that photograph in the drawer that day, didn’t you? When you came back here for tea?’ Nina said. She’d never really noticed that photograph before, but she obviously would have clicked if she had.
Justin nodded. ‘I’m so sorry, Nina. I just wanted to get to know you away from the family. They can be pretty intense sometimes. I’m sure you know that by now. I’ve seen dozens of girlfriends bulldozed over by them and I wanted things to be different between us. I didn’t want you feeling under any pressure – I know what Mum can be like. As soon as you mention a girl’s name, she’s off making lists for the engagement party. I’m sure you’ve seen that side of her whilst you’ve been working here.’
Nina had, of course, but it didn’t make her feel any more comfortable about the situation she now found herself in. ‘But you lied to me,’ she said, her eyes narrowing in dismay.
He shook his head. ‘I didn’t. I
promise
. I just didn’t tell you the complete truth all the time.’
‘Isn’t that the same thing?’ she asked.
‘I’d
never
lie to you, Nina. You’re too special to me.’
She looked into his eyes and felt quite sure that he was telling the truth, but how could she be sure? How could she really know?
‘That evening you came round to the mill for dinner – you knew I’d be out, didn’t you?’ she said to him, remembering the evening she’d spent with Janey and how disappointed Olivia had been that she’d missed her son.
He nodded. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I so wanted to see you, but you can imagine what it would be have been like if Mum had realised we were seeing each other. She would have been marching you around bridal shops before dessert had been served.’
Nina smiled in spite of herself, because she could picture the scene perfectly. Olivia would be absolutely thrilled to know that her eldest son was seeing somebody. She’d already told Nina that she had her suspicions and now Nina realised that the mysterious girl Olivia had been referring to had been her.
‘Your mother says you’re a pilot,’ she said.
‘Yes,’ he said.
‘So, that day when you left the garden in such a hurry and you said you had to fly – you really
did
have to fly, didn’t you?’
It was Justin’s turn to smile. ‘I did, yes, but I didn’t want to be caught by Dad, either. Honestly Nina, I really just wanted to have you to myself for a while.’
‘And when you told me things were “up in the air” at work – they literally were, weren’t they?’
Justin shook his head. ‘A dreadful pun,’ he said. ‘It was as close to telling you the total truth as I dared at the time.’
She looked at him, his face as open and honest as she remembered it during their all-too-brief encounters, and it was impossible not to believe him. Besides, she wanted to, she really wanted to.
‘Although I thought I’d given everything away with that text about Dad’s pipe,’ he said.
Nina nodded, realisation dawning on her. ‘Ah!’ she said. ‘That did make me wonder. You’re lucky I’ve been too busy to dwell on that for long or I might have worked it out.’
He shook his head. ‘I’ve been such a fool,’ he said. ‘I should have just been honest with you from the start.’
‘I wish you had been,’ she said.
‘And I’m so sorry I’ve not been able to see you more,’ he said. ‘It’s been killing me, really it has. But work’s been crazy and it’s been impossible to get away.’
They stood silently for a moment, the grand old clock on the mantelpiece sounding the seconds between them.
‘I’ll understand, you know, if you don’t want to see me again,’ he said. There won’t be any hard feelings.’ He gave the tiniest of smiles – a smile that seemed to say that he sincerely hoped she wouldn’t turn away from him now; that she’d forgive him and allow them to start again.
But Nina didn’t get time to answer him because Olivia came bustling into the room.
‘Ah, Nina, Billy – do hurry along now. Dudley and I have got to greet the guests. They’re all arriving and it’s absolute chaos! Oh, and can you possibly check on Ziggy? He’s been absolutely bonkers for hours, knowing that something’s going on and that he’s not involved.’
Olivia left the room and Justin looked at Nina. ‘Well, I’d better see to that dog,’ he said.
‘I’ll come with you,’ Nina said.
They walked down the hallway to the kitchen together, opened the door and Ziggy sprang into action, spinning around in some mad dog circles and then jumping up to stick his cold, wet nose as close to Justin’s face as he could get it.
‘Hey!’ Justin shouted above the barking. ‘I thought you’d trained this dog!’
‘Don’t blame
me
!’ Nina said with a little laugh at the dog’s antics.
‘Come on, down boy!’ Justin said, turning his back on Ziggy for a moment to allow him to calm down.
‘How’s Bess?’ Nina asked.
‘Oh, she’s great,’ Justin said, bending to fuss Ziggy now that he was a tad calmer. ‘Although not enjoying the hot weather too much.’
‘Who looks after her when you’re away?’
‘Friends here in Norfolk,’ he said. ‘The next village. It’s where I escape to whenever I can. It’s not ideal, of course. I hate not having her with me all the time, but it’s the best thing for her really. I couldn’t keep her in my flat in London and, until I sort myself out with a permanent place in the country, it’s the only solution.’
‘Why can’t you keep her here?’ Nina asked.
‘With Ziggy?’ he asked. ‘You
have
seen the way my mother spoils Ziggy, haven’t you? Well, Bess would be like him in no time, too.’
Nina smiled. ‘I guess.’
They caught one another’s eye and realised that they were back to the people they’d been on the riverbank – talking happily and naturally about the two dogs.
‘Nina—’
‘Listen—’
They both spoke in unison and then laughed.
‘I just wanted to say that I really like you,’ Justin said. ‘From the first day I saw you with Ziggy, stumbling along the footpath behind him.’
Nina bit her lip. ‘I liked you, too. And Bess,’ she said.
‘Well, of course. Who couldn’t like Bess?’ he said, his smile returning like a glorious sunbeam. ‘I missed you,’ he said a moment later. ‘I really missed you.’
‘Perhaps we should only ever meet on riverbanks or – at least – with a dog present,’ Nina said.
Justin laughed at that. ‘I’m not sure that would work out – long term, I mean.’
‘Long term?’ Nina asked.
‘I still want to take you to dinner, remember?’
‘Well, aren’t you meant to be escorting me to one right now?’ she said.
He nodded. ‘You’re absolutely right,’ he said, offering Nina his arm, which she happily linked.
Leaving the mill together, they walked across the lawn towards the marquee.
‘Is that Faye with Dominic?’ Nina asked as she saw the young couple walking out of the walled garden together.
‘It certainly looks like it,’ Justin said.
‘They’re back together again?’ Nina asked.
‘Apparently,’ Justin said.
Nina grinned, but then stopped as a runaway Benji collided into her.
‘Benji – NO!’ Alex’s voice suddenly cried from somewhere behind them. ‘You’re not to go near those balloons!’
Nina and Justin watched in helpless wonder as the young boy tore across the lawn, with Ziggy in pursuit.
‘What’s going on?’ Nina asked. ‘Did Benji let Ziggy out?’
Thinking it a great game, Ziggy galloped after Benji who, by this stage, had managed to untie the net securing the balloons.
‘Oh, no!’ Nina cried. ‘That’s not meant to happen just yet, is it?’
‘Quick! The balloons are off!’ Alex shouted into the marquee and Nina and Justin watched as eighty red-faced guests piled out onto the lawn.
‘Oh,
Benji
!’ Marie shouted, emerging from the crowd, a look of horror on her face at her son’s misconduct as he and Ziggy did a wild sort of dance together on the lawn.
‘It’s all right,’ Olivia assured her, patting her arm. ‘Look, Dudley! Aren’t they beautiful?’
Nina and Justin watched as twenty-five silver balloons floated over The Old Mill House into the cloudless blue sky. Alex and Amber laughed together and Dominic and Faye exchanged a little look that seemed to speak of a future twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. It was a look that didn’t go unnoticed by Olivia.
When the excitement was all over and the guests had returned to the marquee where the band had started to play, Nina turned to Justin. He was shielding his eyes as he watched the last of the balloons, but then he turned to look at Nina.
‘What is it?’ he asked her.
She placed her hands on her hips and shook her head. ‘You know, I
still
don’t know what to call you,’ she told him.
‘Well, it seems like you’re practically one of the family now,’ he said, taking her hand in his, ‘so perhaps you’d better call me Billy.’
She watched as he leaned forward to kiss her. It was a moment she’d been trying to imagine since the evening on the bridge and it was definitely a moment worth waiting for.
When they finally parted, Nina couldn’t help but smile.
‘
Billy
,’ she said. ‘It might take me a little while to get used to that.’
‘That’s okay,’ he said, ‘because I think we’re all counting on you being around for a good long while yet.’
To my agents Annette Green and David Smith whose support is very much appreciated.
To all the team at Avon, especially Helen Bolton who helped me to find the heart of this story. To Bridget Myhill who read a really
really
early version – remember? To my lovely friends on Facebook and Twitter and to Judy Bourner – my ‘Fairacre friend’. To Bronagh McAteer from Handwrittengirl.com. And – as ever – to my husband Roy.
Victoria Connelly was brought up in Norfolk and studied English literature at Worcester University before becoming a teacher in North Yorkshire. After getting married in a medieval castle in the Yorkshire Dales, she moved to London where she lives with her artist husband and a mad springer spaniel. She has had three novels published in Germany – the first of which was made into a film.
To find out more about Victoria please visit
www.victoriaconnelly.com
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