And I knew what it was. Just before breakfast I’d come out of the hall cloakroom after washing my hands and seen Monty running down the stairs. He’d called, ‘I’ve some business I must attend to in my study – there’s a minute or two before breakfast.’ So in that minute or two I’d run up to to say goodbye to the schoolroom, with its books and games and row of dolls – And I’d spotted it then, or rather, spotted its absence. So now I knew I had my bargaining counter.
Monty prompted, ‘It’s for you, Eve – aren’t you going to open it?’
I still didn’t pick it up. Then I thought, no, Eve, don’t bargain over this – he loves you. So raising my eyes to his I admitted, ‘I know what it is – I saw it was gone in the schoolroom. And Monty, I do want it — only once I’ve accepted, then I’m not Eve Gunn any longer.’
‘No, I suppose that’s true.’
‘But I want to give you something – something from Eve Gunn.’
‘Do you, Eve?’ Although his voice was casual his eyes were not.
‘Yes, please.’
‘You think it’s something I’ll like?’
‘Yes, definitely,’ I told him with all the confidence of the well-loved.
‘Ah – then where do you suggest this presentation should take place?’
‘Up in the schoolroom.’
‘It shall be as my lady wishes.’ Scooping up the package he returned it to his pocket. ‘Come along then.’
I almost ran up the stairs. He followed close on my heels, and shut the door firmly behind us the minute we were inside.
‘So, my puss cat – what is it you wish to give me?’
I looked up at him. ‘I would very much like to thank you for sending Eve Gunn down here and looking after her. To thank you with a kiss – a kiss from Eve Gunn.’ His face was still. I begged, ‘Please, Monty.’
He smiled. ‘How can I resist such an offer? We poor serpents don’t stand a chance!’ He held out his arms and said briskly, ‘Come along then Eve – give me Eve Gunn’s last kiss.’
But that kiss was not brisk at all – and quite different from all those kisses we’d shared at Wenlock Court. I felt so different this morning. I wasn’t exploring, or curious, now. Now I just wanted to offer him my lips, my mouth – and my whole loving body.
When eventually he lifted his head and set me from him he sounded almost breathless as he told me, ‘That was delightful, puss cat – but I think Eve Gunn cheated to the end. That was not her last kiss – that was the first kiss of Miss Evelyn Courtney.’
And it was, wasn’t it?
I said then, rather breathless myself. ‘You can give me the parcel now.’
He did, and I gently teased it free from the string – I couldn’t bear to break that seal of his – and opened the tissue to reveal the doll’s tiny waistcoat, embroidered with its pair of peacocks in their pride. I looked up at my bracelet brother who said, ‘Not quite a tunic – but the closest English equivalent, I feel.’
‘Thank you – thank you so much.’
‘Put it in your pocket, Miss Evelyn Parvati Gunn Courtney.’ Then raising one eyebrow, ‘Just a minute – was that Parvati female a temptress too, by any chance?’
‘Not really – I mean Parvati did try and tempt Shiva, but he resisted her. He sat in a cave and sprinkled ashes over his head.’
‘Then, Eve, you’d better order me a ton of ashes.’
I giggled. ‘Don’t be silly, you’d be crushed!’
‘I know my own requirements.’ He glanced at his wrist watch. ‘You’d better run down and put your hat and coat on now, puss cat, the motor will be round shortly.’
After that everything happened very quickly, and in no time at all Mr Hayter was opening the wide front door for me to pass through.
Monty came out on to the steps to see me off. ‘Don’t forget, Eve – Bym and I will be in town until Thursday evening, and I shall expect you to have come to see me by then. And now it really is time for me to say farewelt to Eve Gunn – let’s see if I can remember how to do it in Gaelic.’
‘It’s “slan leibh”, Monty.’
‘No, that’s not the one I’m after.’ Instead he enunciated carefully, ‘Beannachd leibh, Eve.’ My blessing go with you.
‘Monty—’ he put out his hand, I took hold of it with mine and held it too long as I said, ‘Thank you – you’ve been so kind.’ Then looking up into his beloved face I whispered, ‘You said – what you said you wanted from me, last night – if you want you can—’
He stopped me with a gentle finger to my lips. ‘Shush, Eve – I know.’ Spinning suddenly round I ran full tilt down the steps to the waiting motor – and on to a new life.
And so I shall end with a beginning – a new beginning of hope, and love. And love.
First published in the United Kingdom in 2016 by Canelo
Canelo Digital Publishing Limited
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Beaconsfield, Bucks HP9 2DU
United Kingdom
Copyright © Beverley Hughesdon, 2016
The moral right of Beverley Hughesdon to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781910859636
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Beverley Hughesdon, Eve
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