Bridge Over the Atlantic

by Lisa J. Hobman

  The back ‘yard’ as they called it was also tree lined and larger than any garden Mallory had been in other than at hotels or stately homes. The furniture in the garden was a mix of white painted wrought iron in the tree lined seating area and huge modern looking outdoor wicker sofas on the huge BBQ and patio area.

  The inside of the home was very traditional, but extremely classy with its cream walls and antique dark oak furniture. It felt very homey indeed and Mallory was completely at ease.

  They had spent a wonderful two week break at the Buchanan family home and Sam had shown her the delights of Kingston. It was a huge town with a mix of architectural style from modern grey concrete buildings to beautiful old stone churches, complete with pretty carvings and fenestrations. The streets were much wider than Mallory was used to and everything seemed to be on a grander scale.

  They had met with Sam’s brother Ryan and his lovely, pregnant wife Cara who Mallory had hit it off with straight away. Ryan was a typical big brother; teasing Sam playfully at every given opportunity.

  They spent a day at Fort Henry, where Sam had spent many of his school trips; they had braved the chilly waters of the beach at MacLachlan Woodworking Museum with its pretty old log house, before taking a romantic stroll to see the wildlife. It was wonderful. Mallory had felt like she was on her honeymoon.

  On the morning of their last full day in Canada, Sam and Mallory lay snuggled together in his old room, surrounded by blue and white striped wallpaper and posters of his childhood sports star heroes, in his mahogany sleigh bed.

  “I’ve booked a table for us all to dine at Aqua Terra tonight, baby; it’s a seafood restaurant with fantastic views. I hope that’s ok. Ryan and Cara are coming over too. I thought it’d be a nice way to spend our last night here.”

  “Ooh that sounds good; I remember walking past signs for that place when we were out in Kingston on Tuesday. It sounds lovely.” Mallory squeezed her man lovingly.

  “We are booked to dine at 8pm so we have all day to do as we please.” Sam wiggled his eyebrows suggestively as Mallory grinned up at him.

  “Hmmm, what will we find to do, I wonder?” She asked, kissing his chin lightly.

  Sam growled his sexy growl and pulled the covers over their heads. Mallory let out a squeal of delight.

  They spent the morning in bed, making love at their leisure. It was divine. In the afternoon they had gone shopping and Mallory had bought a sexy midnight blue dress that clung to her curves in that sensuous way that Sam just adored. When they had returned home they had shared a luxurious shower, devouring each other’s bodies once again. Then it was time to get ready for dinner.

  Sam sat perched on the edge of the bed in his smart black pants, pristine white shirt and black jacket. He waited patiently for Mallory to come out of the bathroom and reveal herself. She first poked her head around the door.

  “Ooooh, Sam, I’m so not sure about this dress.” She stressed. He rolled his eyes and shook his head.

  “C’mon, baby, you looked gorgeous in the store, why would now be different?” He encouraged her.

  She stepped, nervously, out of the en-suite bathroom, opened her arms and did a 360 degree turn.

  Sam gasped. His pupils dilated. “See – you take my breath away.” He looked genuinely taken aback by her elegance. Her hair had been styled perfectly, thanks to the help of Renee who had created a beautiful cascade of chocolate curls falling down from the diamante clasp holding her hair loosely at the top of her head. She had applied smoky grey shadow to her eyelids and a glossy pink shade to her lips. The midnight blue dress was off the shoulder and fitted to her knees; very Marilyn Monroe. Her silver clutch and matching high heeled sandals finished off the look with perfection.

  Mallory was truly a vision to him. He wanted to scoop her up in his arms and take pleasure in removing that dress, slowly caressing every inch of her sexy, curvaceous shape. But that would have to wait. Tonight was going to be special.

  They arrived at the restaurant and met Ryan, Cara and Renee in the foyer. They exchanged hugs and kisses. Once they had said their hellos they were shown to their table overlooking the waterfront, by the owner, who happened to be a good friend of Renee. Mallory looked out over the glistening water as the sun began to set and the twinkling lights of the boat masts danced like fire flies in the July breeze.

  They chatted comfortably, ate escargots, crab and lobster and drank several bottles of Sauvignon Blanc. The house band played romantic tunes in the background. The dulcet tones of the handsome, young male vocalist lilted through the air and many of the restaurant clientele hummed along to familiar tunes like The way you look tonight and I’ve got you under my skin.

  As they chatted, the music stopped and the band shuffled their sheet music. They began to play again. The music seemed to take on a different tone. This tune had a more modern feel to it. Dum dur dum dur dum dur…the intro sounded familiar and out of step with the earlier lounge music. The guitarist plucked the opening notes and a shiver travelled down Mallory’s spine. She looked around the room to see if anyone else had noticed. She did recognise those opening bars; it was the beginning of Snow Patrol’s ‘Chasing Cars’. She turned to acknowledge this fact to Sam, but he wasn’t in his seat. Suddenly there was a hush across the whole restaurant. She realised that all eyes were on the stage.

  Slowly she turned and saw Sam standing there, looking scared to death. What the heck is going on? Oh no, he’s not going to sing, is he? Please no! She cringed. Sam was not renowned for his vocal talents. In fact she had once joked that his voice could curdle milk. Thankfully, the band’s singer began the words that meant so much to the couple whilst Sam stood gazing at Mallory, his hand held out to her, needing her full and undivided attention.

  Her eyes welled up with tears at the words she had held dear since their first night together. She rose to her feet and looked down at Renee whose eyes were filled with tears now too. Her hands were clasped in front of her face as if praying and a smile played on her lips. Ryan had a huge grin on his face as he looked up at Mallory and gestured that she should go to Sam; he was in on whatever was happening. The lovely but extremely hormonal Cara just sobbed.

  She looked back to Sam who still beckoned her to him, the song continued and the magical words floated through the air like feathers on the wind; she began to walk towards him but her legs had suddenly turned to jelly. The singers beautiful voice went on coaxing her towards Sam whose gaze never broke from hers. She reached Sam as he stepped down from the stage and took her in his arms.

  “Will you dance with me if I promise not to sing?” He whispered.

  “Did you ask for them to play this?” She asked stroking his cheek. He nodded and planted a kiss on her nose. She giggled and slid her arms around his shoulders as they swayed to and fro in time with their song. The moment felt so perfect, even though they were now the centre of attention. All eyes were focused on the besotted couple as they danced. They gazed into each other’s eyes as the song carried on in the background. Suddenly Sam stopped dancing and silently mouthed the words that followed.

  New tears sprang from her eyes as the song began to draw to a close. The musicians quieted down until their music was a faint whisper and the singers voice rang clearly out across the room, Sam continued to mouth the words along with the voice that was much better equipped than he to express them musically.

  During the last bars of the song Sam dropped to one knee and with tears tracing the line of his handsome, smiling face he looked up into the eyes of his beloved, holding aloft a little velvet box containing the most beautiful ring Mallory had ever seen.

  He took a gulp of air before he spoke, “Mallory Westerman, will you waste time ‘chasing cars’ with me for the rest of our lives? Will you please marry me?” Wrought with emotion he struggled to get the words out.

  Mallory stared down at the only man she had ever truly loved and the answer was easy.

  “Yes” The restaurant erupted into thunderous applause as
the couple sealed their engagement with a kiss.

  April 2011

  After spending far too much time in the loft talking about their romantic engagement, they went back to clearing out. They cleared out as much ‘tat and rubbish’ as they could possibly muster up the heart for and packed everything else over the following week. Mallory then set about cleaning around their essential items in order that the little cottage looked pristine for the new owners. Leaving the house was going to be very hard for her. But she was excited about the prospect of a total change of pace and a new adventure with the love of her life.

  At eight-thirty, on the morning of moving day, there was a timely knock at the door. The bleary eyed removal team had arrived to take her whole life hundreds of miles northwards. She directed them here and there as to which items had been inherited by the new occupants of No.3 Railway Terrace. Where the heck was Sam? He had only nipped out to get some cash for their journey. Trust him to miss this bloody bit. She grumbled to herself and winced as she got a paper cut from a sheet of labels. Suddenly her cell phone rang.

  “Where the bloody hell are you?” She scolded as she answered Sam’s call.

  “Hey honey, I am soooo sorry but I got a call from Ryan, while I was on my way home from the ATM. There’s been a major crash on one of the client databases over here and he is stressing like a crazy person. He really needs me to go in there to help out, just for a couple hours. They’ve been on it all night but Ry didn’t want to bother me unless it was absolutely necessary. He does understand how important today is, babe, he just really needs my help.”

  He sounded apologetic but Mallory was unimpressed that this job, which he was supposedly leaving behind, was getting in the way of the most important day of their lives so far.

  “Well that’s just bloody great, Sam. What am I supposed to do? Go without you?”

  “Honey, I am so sorry. Please don’t be mad. You know I would do anything I could to change this but I can’t. No one else knows the system like me and Ry and it’s just not feasible for him to get on a plane right now when I know I’ll be able to fix it. I’ll get this thing dealt with and I will get on the road as soon as humanly possible. I love you so much, you know that, right?”

  “Well, I am mightily pissed off with you right now. And you can tell, Ryan to stick his problem where the sun don’t shine! This is so unfair, Sam, of all the days your brother needs you he chooses today? Really? It’s just not fair.”

  She realised how immature she must have sounded when one of the removal men, barely out of his teens, grinned at her sulky retort. There was a long pause on the other end of the phone then Sam suddenly burst out laughing.

  “You are one crazy Yorkshire terrier, do you know that? Hey, baby, I will get there ASAP. I promise.” His tone changed to a husky whisper, “and I can’t wait to get you on the rug in front of the fireplace and kiss every inch of that sexy body of yours. In fact, make sure the champagne is chilled, baby. I intend to get you good and drunk and take advantage of you tonight.” He growled that deep sexy way that made her legs turn to jelly and her lower regions quiver with anticipation.

  “Well make sure you do get up there ASAP. You have a lot of making up to do for this, Mister.” She gathered herself, glancing around to ensure no one could see the heat rising from her chest to her face.

  “I love ya, Miss Yorksher,” he whispered.

  “I love you too, Mr. Canada.” She smiled. It was impossible to stay mad at him.

  Her anger totally abated, Mallory joined the three men out at the truck to give them directions. When she got back to the house after waving off the truck filled with all of her worldly possessions, she stood in the lounge looking at the bare walls and floor. Tears stung the back of her eyes and she remembered back to the day she moved in…

  October 2001

  “Good grief, Mal! How much bloody stuff have you got?” Brad exclaimed as he humped another box from the self-hire van into the little house. Josie and Brad had been together forever, it seemed. He was tall, very muscular and had that dirty blonde ‘surfer dude’ floppy hair going on. He was ruggedly handsome and had a scar above his left eye where his brother had hit him with a Tonka truck when he was five. Mallory looked at him as the older brother she never had. Being an only child it was great to have someone tough looking out for her.

  “Ooooh, only another three hundred boxes, Brad don’t worry.” Josie laughed as she and Mallory had set to the unpacking.

  “I don’t get how you two are just allowed to sit there doing the easy bit. I am one man you know!” Brad moaned.

  “Ahhh, but what a man you are.” Josie jumped up and ran over to her man, reaching up and slinking her arms around his neck. She kissed him deeply.

  Mallory threw a cushion at the loved-up pair. “Aaargh, get a bloody room you guys.”

  “Hey, Westerman, I think a snog is the least I deserve for helping out,” Brad complained pulling a face at her.

  “Oh don’t worry, by the look of it you’ll be getting payment in kind from lusty lips there tonight.” Mallory laughed and Brad’s eyebrows wiggled suggestively at what she implied.

  They had finished unloading and unpacking by ten o’clock that night and were all completely and utterly enervated. Pizza was ordered, but when it arrived they were pretty much past the point of being hungry. Brad had commented that they should just save it until morning. After all, there was nothing, what so ever, wrong with pizza for breakfast. The girls had laughed hysterically whilst Brad tried to justify not wasting good pizza.

  Josie had produced a warm bottle of fake champagne and they had drunk it from mugs raising a toast to Mallory’s new home.

  “May you have many happy years here, sweetie pie.” Josie had hugged her friend hard. “Enjoy tonight because Sylvia will be here tomorrow to tell you that your taste in IKEA furniture is deplorable.” She laughed uncontrollably and Mallory knew that she was absolutely, unequivocally correct. She loved her Aunt so very much, but boy could she be cantankerous and opinionated. It was going to be an interesting visit.

  Aunt Sylvia had arrived the next morning sharply at nine. She was dressed in a lilac twin-set and her hair had a matching hue. Mallory stifled a giggle.

  “Daaaaahling!” Aunt Sylvia yelled in her usual pseudo-posh accent hugging Mallory hard as if years had passed since their last meeting; in actual fact, it had been the previous day when Mallory had finally moved out from the ‘Manor House’.

  Sylvia was her Dad’s older sister by around eight years. She had married a very wealthy man who had owned a string of butcher shops throughout Yorkshire. She had gradually become the stereotypical Lady of the Manor but she had a heart of gold. “Come on then, lovey; show your old Aunt Sylvia around your new crib.”

  Mallory burst out laughing at the attempt Sylvia had made to be down with the kids. “My what?” she spluttered, holding her stomach for fear of her sides splitting.

  “You know…they do it on the MTV programmes on Sky, haven’t you seen them? Oh, you really should watch it, Mallory, dear. You need to stay abreast. Anyway, they all go around and look inside the grand homes of the rich and famous and see where the magic happens, darling. You really should keep up with what’s en-trend, you know, young girl of your age.”

  Sylvia didn’t crack a smile. She was unabashedly self-righteous in her explanation and subsequent dressing down of her niece.

  “Okay, Aunt Sylvia, I will try harder.” Mallory smirked, “Come in, come in.” They stepped inside the lounge which was still full of boxes.

  “Oh, it’s…um…compact…erm…delightful, darling, delightful.” Sylvia scanned the room almost with disdain. “It will be nice when you get it all sorted and have been with your friends to that Swedish furniture place you youngsters can’t seem to avoid. Honestly it must be like walking into the same house over and over when you all visit one another.” She looked to Mallory and her expression softened. “Sweet heart, you know you always have a home with me. Come back any time if
you decide you don’t wish to be alone…here.”

  Mallory saw a mixture of emotions behind her Aunts grey eyes. Perhaps it was she who was concerned about loneliness; after all Uncle Harold had died three years previously and that manor house was so big. She hugged her Aunt.

  “Come through, Aunty, and I’ll make tea. I have little china mugs that I got from that antique place in Marsden. You’ll love them!”

  At the end of the visit, after she had waved off her Aunt, Mallory found an envelope on the mantle. She opened it and inside was a card.

  Wishing my dear Mallory a wonderful new life of independence, love Sylvia, P.S. don’t you dare eschew the enclosed gift. It is meant for you to invest as you see fit in order to make your new adventure a little more facile, much love.

  Mallory rolled her eyes at her Aunts formal tone. Sure enough inside the card was a cheque for £500.

  April 2011

  Finally, and with more than a little trepidation, Mallory said goodbye to her happy little house of memories, locking the solid wooden door behind her. After a brief detour via the solicitors, to leave her keys, she and her little dog Ruby set off up the motorway on the first leg of their great adventure, surrounded by the essentials they would need on arrival at their Scottish destination.

  The little yellow car was stacked to the hilt and the engine was somewhat protesting at the extra weight. Ruby sat on the passenger seat staring out the window whilst Mallory listened and sang along, emphatically, to the compilation CD of life affirming tracks and love songs that Sam had presented her with the day before. Tears streamed down her face as she sang along to their song ‘Chasing Cars’ by Snow Patrol. She missed him already even though she knew she was going to see him in a few hours’ time.

  Mallory gazed out of the window as she passed the large hotel at Scotch corner. She smiled fondly as she remembered the time she had been to Scotland with her parents when she was nine and she had got very excited because they had reached this place and she’d presumed that they had arrived. She was very disappointed when she discovered the truth. Scotch corner was nowhere near Scotland! What a silly place, she had thought sulkily.