Page 161 of The Christmas Invitation
‘Always,’ I assured him.
As one elderly farmer had predicted at the party, the temperature had risen radically overnight and we awoke on the morning after Boxing Day to the sound of dripping everywhere. The snow still covered everything, but as the morning went on it was rapidly sinking like a deflated soufflé.
By the time Lex and I had finished a long portrait sitting, followed by a kiss or two, slightly impeded by one jealous small dachshund, we emerged to the news that the tractor and snowplough had gone up the lane earlier … and then a little later returned, followed by the mail van.
The road to Thorstane was finally reopened!
After lunch, Flora rang to tell us that Piers had insisted on leaving the moment he heard the road was open and had paid Gil Adcock to drive him to the station.
‘She said he kicked up a huge fuss when she gave him his bill and said she was charging twice as much as his London club. But, of course, he had to pay it,’ Clara said.
‘I should think Gil will charge him quite a bit, too, if he’s taking him all the way to the station,’ Henry said.
‘He wanted Flora to take him, but she was too nervous to try it until the road thaws a little more tomorrow. When it does, she and Rollo plan to leave her car at the motel and then drive to London in his, so he can introduce her to his mother.’
‘Really?’ I said. ‘She doesn’t let the grass grow under her feet, does she?’
‘No, I think she’s got her man and she isn’t going to let him out of her sight now,’ agreed Clara.
‘They could have taken Piers back to London with them,’ suggested Tottie.
‘Rollo’s got a ridiculous little two-seater sports car,’ I said. ‘They couldn’t have taken him, even if they’d wanted to.’
Zelda was still at Underhill, and River drove Sybil there that afternoon, so she could pack for her trip with him to the Farm.
‘We’ve told Mark about your mother’s call,’ Sybil said when they returned. ‘I’m sure it’s put his mind totally at rest, so that now we can forget all that tangle in the past.’
Tangle was one way of putting it.
‘What about you, dear?’ Sybil asked me. ‘So lovely that you and Lex are … well,together. Are you going to stay here a little longer, or are you coming to the Farm tomorrow, too?’
‘Oh, I’ll stay here until I’ve finished Lex’s portrait at least, and then I suppose I’d better tell my landlord I’m not renewing my lease on the flat. Luckily it expires just after my exhibition in February.’
‘And after that, we’ll go India,’ Lex said with the special smile that made my knees turn into jelly. ‘I must get back to work in a few days, though. I’ll “get potting”, as you once suggested!’
‘Potted,’ I corrected, but I smiled.
I knew at some point I’d have to meet with Al and Tara, to lay the foundations for our future relationship. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but I’d already had an abject apology by telephone from Al, so I was prepared to forgive and, if not forget, put it behind me.
‘We’ll have to make our plans, so that after your exhibition and our trip, you can move up here permanently,’ Lex said.
‘We’ll all go to your exhibition,’ declared Clara.
‘And I’ll hire a minibus for the Farm contingent,’ said River. ‘We can all meet up there!’
It sounded like it would be one of my more memorable one-woman shows.
‘There’ll be lots of coming and going between Starstone Edge and the Farm in the years to come – what fun!’ said Clara happily. ‘It’s all working out surprisingly well!’
Then a frown crossed her face and she added, ‘Oh, but there’s just one thing! Henry, I’m afraid Rollo is coming for tea today with Flora, to say goodbye. He behaved himself quite well at the party, so it seemed mean not to let him.’
Henry sighed. ‘I expect I’ll end up letting him print one of my poems in his ghastly magazine. But I’m definitely not writing a foreword to his collected poems!’
‘Meg, you’ve enlivened and enriched our lives!’ declared Clara.
And Lex, sitting next to me, gave me his sideways arrowhead smile and said, with a hint of his old sardonic self, ‘She’s a gift that just keeps on giving.’
Epilogue
