Page 24 of The Island Girls

‘Two dozen of your first-class types, yes, but we could probably squeeze in seventy or eighty at a push if they didn’t mind being crammed in like sardines,’ said Darrell with a laugh. ‘Enough of my job, now, or I’ll be getting myself into trouble! What have you ladies been up to while I’ve been busy?’ he asked, and Peggy settled in for a relaxed evening with the man she was now assured was still very keen to keep up with her.

At ten o’clock, Darrell walked the two girls home.

‘I’ll see myself in, no need to rush,’ said Molly with a wink to her sister, as she shut the front door quickly behind her, leaving Peggy on the doorstep with a face blushing crimson.

Darrell looked down the street and back to Peggy with a shy smile.

‘We’re so close to the water here. Does your house back onto the beach?’ he asked, obviously keen to take the pressure off Peggy, who’d been left on the doorstep with him.

‘Not exactly what you’d call a beach as this is a mud flat at low tide, but it is the shore of the harbour. Dad’s fishing boat is kept just out there, and we have a tender pulled up on the shingle,’ she said.

‘Perhaps in the summer, we could go out for a little row one evening? I was in Plymouth last summer and the long, light evenings were glorious. This harbour would be beautiful for an evening row,’ he said wistfully.

Peggy was lost for words for a moment while she thought about the loveliness of Darrell’s idea.

‘But do you think you’ll still be here in the summer, Darrell? You may have changed your mind about me by then, anyway,’ she added, feeling suddenly self-conscious.

‘If I have my way, I’ll be hanging around you for a lifetime, Peggy Symonds,’ and while her mouth dropped open in astonishment, he lifted her chin with his finger, so tenderly, and bent down, kissing her lightly on the cheek. Peggy let out the breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding and saw the frosty air gather around them, realising how close their faces still were. She took a step back, and lowered her eyes a moment before daring to look him full in the face.

‘I like that idea very much, Darrell Taylor. Let’s hope summer comes early, shall we?’ she said, daring a coy smile.

Darrell reached down and took her hand in his, stroking her thumb with his, and leant down towards her lips.

‘May I kiss you goodnight, Miss Symonds?’ he whispered.

‘Yes please,’ she said as she closed her eyes and waited.

The kiss, when it came, was the first real kiss of her life, Peggy realised later. She’d been out with boys before and had danced and let them walk her home. And several had kissed her goodnight, but it had always been a rushed and harsh thing, prickly and tense. But this. This was something else entirely. Darrell’s lips were soft against hers and touched her lightly,gently, again and again but slowly, like the lapping of a tiny wave on a shore, until she wanted more from him, and she found herself kissing him back, reaching up and pushing into him, pulling at his lips with her own.

He lightly touched one hand on her waist and the other cradled her head. He ran his hand through her hair, and she felt herself melting into him. He moved his hand to her back to stop her from falling away completely as she relaxed as if into a deep sleep. She placed her own hands behind his neck and felt the softness of his hair between her fingers and realised she was fully pushing her open mouth against his, searching him out and wanting him to search deep inside of her soul.

When she drew back for breath, she could not open her eyes and he held her steady as she swayed on the spot until she found her equilibrium and looked up into his warmly smiling face.

She beamed at him and reached up gingerly to touch his face.

‘So this is what all the fuss is about,’ she said dreamily and the dimples in his cheeks deepened.

‘You’d best get inside, Peggy,’ he said, nodding towards the front door. ‘But I’m not working tomorrow. Can I call round in the morning? Perhaps we can spend the day together?’ he asked, hopefully.

‘I have a flying boat to meet in the morning, first thing, but I’ll be done by about ten o’clock if you want to come by then?’ she asked him.

He nodded his assent and bent to give her one last, brief kiss, pulling away and guiding her to the front door, which he opened for her, before she could protest.

‘Don’t want you catching cold out here, Peggy,’ he said as he waved goodbye and walked down Ballard Road, back towards the quay.

‘You two took your time,’ called Molly with a hint of tease in her voice from the front room.

‘Shush, Molly. Mother and Father will hear you, and what would they think?’ Peggy giggled as she slumped into the fireside chair beside her sister.

‘They already know. They’ve only been upstairs a couple of minutes.’ Molly laughed. ‘Don’t worry, we all know how these things work,’ she said, tapping her belly, and Peggy felt the heat of a blush rise from her toes to her ears.

‘Oh, Molly, he is so lovely. And we’re going to spend the day together tomorrow, too.’

‘Of course you are, Peg. He is yours, like I said,’ teased Molly as she stood to go upstairs to bed, kissing her fingertips and touching them to the photo of her husband that stood on the sideboard. ‘It’s about time we had some more good news around the place and I think that Darrell is just what you – and all of us – need. Sleep tight, my darling.’

The next morning seemed to take a lifetime to come around. Peggy usually slept soundly all night, but on this Friday night, she woke several times. Perhaps the moon was too bright, or the wind a little strong. Whatever it was, she woke often and excitedly thought morning had come already. So, when it was finally time to wake up, she did so with a start, feeling as though she was late. She dressed for work, and added a little makeup even though it was just a regular launch trip she was dressing for.

As Peggy approached the office to collect the launch key, she was surprised to find Charlie waiting for her.

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