Page 161 of The Sapphire Child
‘Tell me what?’ Andrew seized her hand.
Tears brimmed in her eyes. ‘That I loved you as much as you said you loved me.’
Andrew clutched her hand harder. ‘And do you still feel that way? Because I do.’
‘Yes, Andy,’ she said, ‘very much.’
He pulled her towards him and their arms went around each other. She laid her head against his chest and for a long while they just held one another. Part of Stella never wanted the moment to end, but she also felt she had to know right then what the future meant for them.
She sat back. ‘But, Andrew, what about Felicity? I don’t want you breaking your promise to her because of what I feel for you.’
‘I won’t be,’ he said.
Stella tensed, bracing herself for the worst. ‘Oh, I see...’
‘I got a letter from Mamma while I was in hospital. It gave me two bits of news – one of them being that Felicity got married to a colonel in the Scots Guards over a month ago.’
Stella looked at him aghast. ‘Never?’
Andrew smiled again. ‘I should have known she wouldn’t have the patience to wait for me. With Flis-Tish it’s always been a case of “out of sight – out of mind”.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Stella, shocked by the fact that Felicity had left it to Lydia to break the news to Andrew.
‘I’m not,’ he said. ‘When I wrote that letter to you, I also wrote to Felicity breaking off our engagement. You see, she had every right to do what she did – although I suspect the colonel had probably been courting her for months anyway.’
Stella gazed at him and gently touched his face. ‘I’m glad for her – and I’m glad for us.’
Andrew looked at her intently. ‘Will you marry me, Stella?’
Stella felt a surge of happiness well up inside. ‘Oh, Andy, yes,’ she gasped. ‘Yes, a hundred times over!’
They reached for each other and kissed each other fiercely. Stella felt the same passion that had coursed through her at Tiger Fall and yet this time there was no guilty pulling apart. They loved each other equally and Andrew’s eager kiss showed that their desire was mutual. When they broke from their embrace, they both were breathless and then grinning.
Not quite believing what was happening, Stella pressed herself against his chest. ‘What was your mother’s other news?’
Andrew gave a grunt of amusement. ‘Another wedding,’ he said. ‘Marriage seems to be in the air.’
‘Who?’ she asked. ‘Do I know them?’
‘Yes, it’s Mamma. Dickie finally proposed.’
‘Really?’ Stella exclaimed.
‘Yes, she sounds very happy about it. Was apologising about not waiting till I got home but said at their age they wanted to get on with it.’
‘And are you pleased?’ Stella asked.
‘Very,’ Andrew admitted. ‘It makes me less guilty about not rushing back to Scotland.’
Stella eyed him. ‘So, where do you plan to live?’
‘We, Stella,’ he remarked. ‘Where do we plan to live. I’ve been talking things over with Dad. I may not be fit enough to return to the brigade for a while. But if –once– this war is won, I want to be wherever you’ll be happiest. I shan’t stay in the army – I want us never to be parted again. I just want to be with you, Stella, living and working alongside you. Maybe at the Raj in Pindi – or here in Gulmarg. I know this place is very special to us both.’
Stella was tearful at his tender words. ‘Yes, it is.’
She felt overwhelmed at the thought. Not only would they be living in the place they loved best, helping Tom and Esmie, but it would mean she would never be parted from Belle. Then anxiety over her secret weighed on her anew. The burden of it was suffocating. Andrew deserved to know the truth. Yet she dreaded telling him, in case he thought less of her for giving up her child.
‘Andy’ – she hesitated – ‘there’s something I have to tell you. It might make you think differently about me. But I can’t have secrets from you.’ A minute ago she had felt that her happiness would never end, but now she needed to steel herself to say the words that she felt might bring that happiness crashing down. ‘You see, it’s about Belle...She’s not who you think she is—’
