Mothers and Daughters
Page 28
They stood a little apart from the others, looking out over the sea of mountain peaks. The sun was slipping down the sky, drenching the mountains in pink and gold in one last flourish before it sank. The silence was extraordinary, deep and meaningful, and even the hardened skiers were awed by it all.
Frank put his arm round her and pulled her close to him. ‘I am so happy to be here with you, Alice, to share this.’ He turned to her and she saw his love for her in his eyes. She leant towards him and he kissed her. After a while he drew away, his arms looped round her waist. ‘I’ve been in love with you for so long.’ His face was close to hers. She could feel the warmth of his breath on her cheek. ‘I loved you from that first time I met you with Julian, but I saw how much you loved each other so I wasn’t going to hang around, get in the way, so I went to live in France. I thought my feelings would fade over time, but when I saw you again I knew my love was as strong as ever.’ He smiled, stroked her face with the tip of his fingers. ‘I’m telling you the secret I’ve held close with me all these years and you can do with it what you want.’
‘I didn’t know that, Frank.’ She was surprised at his confession. ‘I loved Julian, only had eyes for him, but when you came back after he’d died, that time you found me pruning that tree, I felt…’ She paused, ‘Well I just knew I wanted to be with you, but I didn’t know if you had a wife, a girlfriend… If you were free, or,’ she laughed, a little self consciously, ‘would be the slightest bit interested… romantically I mean, in me.’
The sky was getting darker as the glow of the sun slipped away into the velvet darkness behind the mountains that surrounded them. The moon, like a great, silver ball, hung above. Alice safe in Frank’s arms felt that they were enclosed in the power of nature.
‘There is no one in my life, but I hope there is you,’ he said. ‘I have waited for you for so long.’
‘I love you,’ she said, the joy of it rising in her as they kissed again.
Then she remembered outside that car showroom when she’d asked Julian for help to cope with their girls and the bombshells they’d dropped on her. Frank had suddenly come into her mind. It was a foolish thought perhaps, but had it come from him? Now it was time to let Julian go and love again.
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MINNA HOWARD has had an exciting career in fashion journalism and now writes full time, whilst enjoying time with her grandsons and working as an occasional Film and TV extra. She lives in London and is herself a glamorous Granny.
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First published in the United Kingdom in 2016 by Aria, an imprint of Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © Minna Howard, 2016
The moral right of Minna Howard to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (E) 9781784975852
Jacket Design: Emma Rogers
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