I’ll Bring You Buttercups. Elizabeth Elgin

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СКАЧАТЬ would have to, she thought, for so much was at stake that one wrong move, one wrong word even, could be the end of it for them both, and that could not, must not, happen. And she would go carefully, because Andrew MacMalcolm was the man she wanted to marry. She had known it yesterday when he opened his door to her, and no one else would do.

      Andrew, or no one.

      Alice pulled out the oven damper, then gave her full attention to the scones she was baking. She had been unable to get to shop to buy a cake, and since Miss Julia couldn’t offer the cherry cake again – to offer a cut-into cake would suggest they were nothing short of poverty-stricken – she had left a note asking the milkman for cream. This afternoon they would eat fresh scones with cream and jam, though to be truthful, neither would notice if she served a slice from yesterday’s loaf, gone stale.

      Oh, miss, she mourned, sniffing the milk to make sure it was good and sour – only sour milk for scones, Mrs Shaw always said – why did you have to go and fall in love? No, that wasn’t what she meant, for every woman had the right to fall in love. What she really meant, she supposed, was why had she fallen in love with someone she could never be wed to. Because it wouldn’t do; it really wouldn’t. Doctoring was the most desirable of professions, but when it didn’t come hand in hand with money, then there was nothing more to be said.

      It was then, and for the first time, that Alice acknowledged how very fortunate she was. Fortunate to be a nobody, to have nothing, and no one to forbid her marriage to Tom, save an aunt who wouldn’t care if she wed the midden-man. And how very fortunate that Tom loved her in spite of the fact that she had nothing; loved her for herself – his buttercup girl.

      ‘Tom,’ she whispered to the rolling-pin. ‘I’m glad that in two days’ time I shall be getting off that train back home.’ Glad she’d be taking Morgan for his afternoon walk and that Tom would be there. And he would tilt her chin with his fingertip and bend and kiss her. Tom, her love. Thomas Dwerryhouse, whom one day she would marry. For they could wait. They had all the time in the world – not like Miss Julia and her doctor, because after today they might never meet again.

      ‘It doesn’t bear thinking about,’ she muttered, flouring the rolling-pin. And who, she demanded with amazement, would ever have thought that the day would dawn when she would pity Julia Sutton. Because she did. She pitied her something awful.

      Julia walked slowly, her hand in Andrew MacMalcolm’s, speaking little, for there seemed nothing more important than being together. Their talking had been done, their plans made, promises asked and given.

      ‘After today, Andrew,’ she had used his name without thinking because it was beautiful to say, ‘I won’t be able to meet you. Tonight, Aunt Sutton’s maid returns from Bristol, and my aunt will make the overnight crossing and be in London before Hawthorn and I leave.’

      ‘So it’s goodbye, for a while.’

      ‘For as short a while as I can make it,’ she had whispered, knowing she was being forward, yet being so only because there was so little time. ‘I shall come back as soon as I can, but I shall tell Aunt Sutton about you and you must leave your card at her house. And I’ll beg her to receive you so she can say to my mother that she knows you, and approves.’

      ‘She’ll approve, do you think?’ He smiled down and she smiled back, without embarrassment. ‘She’ll take a wee rubber approval stamp and plonk it right in the middle of my forehead and that’ll make it all right?’

      ‘No, but it’s the way it’s got to be, so we must accept it.’

      ‘Why must we,’ he asked softly, ‘and, come to that, why must it be?’

      ‘Because –’ She glanced up quickly, alarmed, but saw no rancour, nothing in his face to warrant her fear. To him, she supposed, it was as simple as being in love, because he was in love, too; she knew it. ‘Because – well – that’s the way we do it. Being properly introduced, and all that sort of thing.’

      ‘But, Julia, you and I weren’t introduced, yet here we are, miserable because we’re parting, wanting to see each other again, both of us –’ He stopped, asking the question with his eyes.

      ‘Both of us knowing we might fall in love?’

      ‘Have fallen in love, and against all the rules and conventions. We know all we need to know about each other; that my father dug coal and your father burned it; that I am a good physician and intend to be even better; that you and I met three days ago and knew –’

      ‘Just as my parents knew,’ she whispered.

      ‘Aye – that we were right for each other and that we must be back, soon, or your Hawthorn will be glaring at the clock, thinking I’ve run off with you.’

      They had turned then, and retraced their steps, and because she did not at once place her hand back in his, he reached for it, holding it tightly for several seconds before he tucked her arm in his own.

      ‘How old are you, Andrew?’ She knew so much about him, yet so little.

      ‘I’ll be twenty-six in August.’

      ‘And I shall be twenty-one, soon.’

      ‘Good. That’s just right. And did I tell you that you should always wear blue?’

      She smiled at him, shaking her head, holding his eyes in a too-long glance. But it didn’t matter, because he was making love to her: not the physical love she wanted so much to share with him; but with every look, every touch, every carefully chosen word, he made her love him a little more, and knew it was the same for him.

      ‘When we meet again – if it’s still summer – I shall wear this dress for you.’

      ‘It will still be summer, Julia. Soon, I shall have a week’s leave of absence. I have no close family to spend it with, so I could well come to –’

      ‘To York!’ she supplied, joyously. ‘I could meet you there – I’m sure I could. When will it be?’

      ‘In June. The second or third week.’

      ‘And you’ll come? You won’t change your mind?’ Her cheeks flushed hotly, a small, happy pulse beat at her throat. ‘I – I couldn’t bear it if you didn’t.’

      ‘I shall come. Only if my employers at the hospital decide otherwise will I not be there.’

      ‘And you would write and let me know if you couldn’t – write to Hawthorn, that is?’

      ‘I would let you know.’ They had stopped walking now, because the park gates were only a few steps away and each was reluctant to walk through them.

      ‘Andrew – you will try to make Aunt Sutton’s acquaintance? You’ve got to agree it would help?’

      ‘I don’t know, lassie. I’d like fine to meet your aunt, but if I don’t – well, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Because it’s a big world we both live in, though you’ve seen precious little of it from inside your safe, sedate walls. But nothing can change these last few days. You know it and I know it. There’ll be a way,’ he said comfortably, confidently. ‘We’ll find it, between us.’

      ‘Andrew,’ she whispered, ‘we’re almost back СКАЧАТЬ