Page 47 of The Cottage in the Highlands

The letter to Lily slid from the envelope and I just managed to capture it in my flustered fingers. “Ok! Sorry. On my way, Baz.”

The writing paper smelled of lavender and had partially unfolded in my hands.

I knew I shouldn’t read it. It wasn’t mine to read. But the artful handwriting and its opening sentences captured my attention.

And so, I stood there, in the hallway of Merry Wood, and found myself transfixed by this letter.

Chapter Sixteen

13 March 1973

My darling Lily,

I didn’t know how to tell you, so please forgive me for writing this letter. It is one I hoped I would never have to write.

Please believe me when I say I knew nothing about this until Astrid told me this morning.

I have spent all day agonising over this. All I know is that I love you with all my heart and always will. I realise we’ve only known each other less than a year, but I knew from the moment I saw you that you were the only woman I could love.

Astrid’s charity has offered to send her to Africa for a year. She’s desperate to go and I’m sure you can guess what I’m about to say.

I don’t want to go, but I have no option. I can’t be parted from my son across the other side of the world for that length of time.

I know you will be angry with me and I don’t blame you. But you must know that nothing will change how I feel about you. You are the love of my life and nothing will ever alter that.

It has all happened so quickly, I’m struggling to make sense of it. Final arrangements are being made, but it looks like we will be leaving Scotland for Africa within the next few days. We will arrange for Merry Wood to be rented out for twelve months, until our return.

I know I have no right to ask this of you and that I have no call on you, but I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for leaving you for a year – and that you will be prepared to wait for me.

I would love to be able to write to you from Africa, provided that wouldn’t cause you any difficulty or awkwardness with Bernard.

I hope you will be happy to write back to me.

My address will be The Sunrise House in Durban but I will give you more details when it is confirmed.

I know our feelings for one another are wrong, but you and I both know that we are trapped in loveless marriages.

We belong together, Lily. You know we do. One day, we will be.

All my love,

Flynn. X

Oh my God. Flynn. Flynn Talbot. Had Lily ever read this letter? Did she even know it existed?

Baz yelled again for me from the garden and I flinched, disturbed by his bellows. “Ok! On my way!”

I folded up the letter and slipped it back into the envelope. I carefully popped it into the back pocket of my jeans. I had to deliver this letter to Lily. It belonged with her.

I stared at my surroundings of embossed old-fashioned wallpaper, the rattling beaded kitchen curtain and the creaky leather furniture. Was that why Lily was so protective of Merry Wood? Because it was the connection to Flynn and to happy times in her past, and she didn’t want to lose them.

But what had happened to the Talbots? Why was the house sitting empty like this?

I was only half listening to Baz prattling on about deadlines. As soon as he packed up and the three models had been swept away in their respective tinted SUVs, I hurried from Merry Wood and across the sun-stippled woodland to Lily’s cottage.

My stomach and my heart were swooping. She would know I’d read her letter, but what could I do?

I arrived at her front door, the polished panels of glass capturing the marmalade sun from her windows. I wouldn’t blame her if she slammed the door in my face.