‘How on earth do you know?’
‘Because she told me so.’
He looked utterly mystified. ‘But she can’t have done. Thanks to your family, you had no contact with her!’
‘Ah, but she left messages for me, at Clematis Villa. Three of them, a bit like the treasure hunts she used to set up for me when I was little, leaving treats for me in my favourite places. The first was a note folded away in a book of hers that I used to love, basically telling me she was glad I was here. I think she guessed that all the letters she posted to me were not reaching me, and that she might never see me again. Quite possibly she knew by then that she was dying.’
Kate’s voice broke just a little but she carried on. ‘I found her second message when it fell out of that pink silk dress she’d made, it must have been long ago. She’d written that she liked to think of me dancing in it at parties, and I shook my head, because I never had danced at a party and surely never would. But I was wrong.’
His arm was round her now and he gently kissed her forehead. ‘You were wrong, darling Kate. But you spoke about three messages.’
‘Yes, and I’ve only just realised where the third one is! You see, in my bedroom there’s a sampler she must have sewn. It hangs on the wall above my bed, with a sweet picture of a cottage and the words,Find Where Your Heart Belongs.I always assumed that the message referred to my aunt’s love of Clematis Villa, but now I wonder if she hung it in that bedroom as another message to me. Do you think she guessed, Dan, that you and I might meet?’
‘I think she actually hoped we would meet. You see she asked me, shortly before she died, to be kind to you if our paths should cross.’
Silence fell until she said at last, very quietly, ‘You didn’t tell me that.’
‘No. I didn’t. And I’m very much afraid that I wasn’t kind to you. Not at first.’
He waited for her response, and it was like waiting for the executioner’s axe to fall on his hopes, his dreams. But then he saw her eyes sparkle in that familiar, gorgeous way and she laughed. ‘I don’t blame you for not being kind to me,’ she said, ‘because I was fairly rude to you, wasn’t I? Well, you did present rather a challenge as a neighbour—but I know now, Dan where my heart belongs. It belongs to you.’
His heart was full as he put his arms around her and held her close. ‘You have suffered unkindnesses,’ he said quietly, ‘and you have borne them all with bravery and grace. Are you saying, Kate, that you love me in spite of all my mistakes?’
‘Oh, yes. I’ve loved you more with every argument we’ve ever had. Didn’t you realise?’
Lifting her by the waist, he kissed her quite deliciously, only for him to let her go on realising they were being watched carefully by a small girl standing nearby. After a moment the little girl came up to Kate and handed her a sheet of paper. ‘I’ve drawn you another picture, Miss Summerby,’ she said shyly. ‘It’s a prince and princess in a fairy tale. They are very happy, like you and this man. You are happy, miss, aren’t you?’
Dan watched as Kate bent down to hug her. ‘I am very happy, darling Jane. Off you go now to join the others, because I think it will be story time soon.’
‘I can see,’ Dan said, ‘that you’ve made a new friend.’
‘Lots of new friends.’ She nodded. ‘Truly lovely ones.’
He looked around. ‘I’ve asked you,’ he said, ‘if you will be my Countess, and I realise you’ll need time to think. I can see, for example, that you won’t want to leave this neighbourhood, will you?’
She hesitated. ‘I really love it here. And of course, you will wish to live in London.’
‘Not all the time.’
‘But isn’t your house here up for sale?’
‘It was,’ he said.
And he told her. He told her how back in London he’d realised that he was missing being near to the sea and how he found himself imagining living here for much of the year, at least. ‘I pictured the perfect life,’ he said, ‘a life where I was never lonely. Because in that life, Kate, you were beside me, always.’
‘Do you really mean it?’ She still sounded hesitant. ‘Would you be happy to spend much of your time here?’
‘I mean it,’ he said. ‘Of course I would have to be in London often, because it’s my duty to look after the Mayfair house and there are always business matters to deal with. But I have taken my Brighton house off the market.’ He took her hands and kissed them. ‘And do you know, I’ve just realised that you’ve never seen it properly, have you?’
She shook her head. ‘I called at the house briefly once, to agree to your suggestion of two outings.’
‘With severe misgivings, I suspect.’
‘I’m afraid so! But I never got further than the entrance hall, since your brother was unwell and you were clearly busy.’
He nodded. ‘And in a state of disarray, as I recall.’
She laughed. ‘Well, yes, but I was becoming used tothat.Then the next time I called, you were busy chopping down a statue in the garden. Remember?’
