Josephine Cox Sunday Times Bestsellers Collection. Josephine Cox

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       Chapter 10

      LATE AUTUMN IN Boston was a time when the magnificent colours of the trees, which had created magic to the eye only a few weeks before, were already drifting away as their leaves fell, heralding the onset of winter. But in spite of all that, it was Mrs Vicky Maitland’s favourite season.

      ‘I always enjoy our evening walks alongside the water,’ Vicky tucked her arm through her husband, Leonard’s, ‘but autumn is best. The trees may be shedding their leaves, but the beauty never fades.’ She playfully kicked the leaves along under her feet. ‘It’s just different,’ she mused. ‘A quieter, deeper kind of beauty.’

      Leonard smiled down on her. ‘You see beauty in everything,’ he said lovingly. ‘But yes, I know what you mean – and you’re right, as always.’

      They strolled on for a time, eventually sitting down to rest where the overhanging branches of a giant tree dipped into the water.

      For what seemed an age, not a word passed between them. Over the years they had grown so close, they almost knew what the other was thinking. And just now, in that moment, Vicky was thinking of another stretch of water, the Atlantic Ocean, and a journey that she would never forget. It seemed a lifetime ago when she and her children boarded the liner that would carry them away from their homeland forever.

      She thought of Barney, and the way their marriage had ended. What he did had broken her heart. It had almost ruined one of their sons, made the other forever bitter, and taken away their daughter Susie’s childhood. Each and every one of them had changed because of what Barney had done, and for that, Vicky could never forgive him.

      In the beginning, there was deep shock, and a yearning to punish him for splitting the family asunder. But though she might blame him for the pain he had caused, Vicky could never stop loving him. Barney was her first and last real love. Nothing could ever change that.

      Eventually, she forgave him for what he had done to her. But she could never forgive him for what he had done to the children – Susie in particular. She had been made to grow up before her time.

      ‘A penny for them?’ Leonard’s voice cut across her thoughts.

      ‘Oh Leonard, I’m sorry,’ Vicky apologised. ‘I was just thinking.’

      ‘You were miles away.’ Sliding an arm round her shoulders, he drew her to him. ‘You were thinking of Barney again – I can always tell. But it’s all right, my dear. I understand, I really do.’

      Vicky felt ashamed. ‘You’re such a good man,’ she muttered. ‘I don’t deserve you.’

      ‘No, you don’t,’ he agreed, ‘because you deserve the best – and in your eyes that will always be Barney Davidson. I don’t pretend to match up to him, because I never will, nor would I want to. Yes, I know he caused you all such pain. But it’s never the bad things we remember about the person we love. It’s always the good times – the laughter and the joy.’

      Pausing to gather his thoughts, he watched the rowboat go past. He saw some children running along the riverbank trying to keep up, and it made him smile. ‘We do the best we can,’ he said. ‘We strive and struggle, yet sometimes it’s not enough. We must never forget, Barney was very special. A strong, determined man, he was totally devoted to you and the children. You can’t dismiss a man like that – and no one would expect you to, least of all me.’

      In the deepest recesses of his mind, he recalled the night he had found Barney huddled by the tree trunk, desperately ill and almost out of his mind. That night, he had made a sacred promise to Barney, and for Vicky’s sake he had kept that promise; though with every passing year, the burden of guilt weighed heavier.

      Deeply moved by his quiet words, Vicky reached up to kiss him softly on the mouth. ‘You know me so well,’ she chided. ‘I can never keep a secret from you.’

      She needed to tell him something now – something she had never said before. ‘What you say is true, Leonard – I do still love Barney, and I will love him to the day I die. But I love you, too. I love being your wife, and I love the way you took me and the children under your wing. You’re kind and thoughtful, and I’m so glad you were there for us.’ She moved closer to him. ‘Have I been a good wife to you, Leonard?’

      He squeezed her tenderly. ‘You know you have.’

      ‘I always knew you had a fancy for me,’ she chuckled. ‘Barney was the first to notice it, and he would tease me mercilessly. It’s strange how things worked out,’ she mused. ‘Do you think some things are meant to be?’

      ‘In what way, exactly?’

      ‘You and me … do you think there really is something called Fate, which channels our lives into a particular direction?’

      In answer, he took her by the elbows and stood her up. ‘I’m certain there is,’ he replied. ‘I think it was Fate that made me get rid of that monstrous fiancée of mine; it was Fate that made me fall in love with you, and it was Fate that brought us here to this land of America, where I won your heart … not your soul because that belongs to Barney. But we’re here together, safe and secure. And yes, I do believe we have Fate to thank for that.’