Natural Born Readers (The Book Lovers 3)

by Victoria Connelly

  And there he was with a camel, an elephant, a snake of ginormous proportions. There he was in a city, a desert, by an ocean. He’d left Castle Clare and he’d seen everything. And did she wish she’d gone with him? Would it have been the best adventure of her life?

  As she looked at the pictures, she remembered some of the postcards he’d written to her.

  You’d love it here. Well, not the humidity and the insects and the spiders, but you’d love the people and the places.

  Oh, no. Bryony would not have liked the creepy crawlies.

  She turned the page and saw a photograph of Ben in a temple in Istanbul.

  The colours – I wish I could bring all the colours home for you. You’ve never seen such incredible textiles and patterns.

  Oh, yes – there was a part of Bryony which would have loved to have been part of Ben’s adventure and to have seen all the things he had seen. He’d once written and told her that the cities and the scenery were all very well, but it was the people who made his trip so special. He couldn’t get over how welcome he’d been made. He’d once stumbled across a village in the mountains of southern Spain and been invited into a humble little home and shared the family’s food and been given shelter for the night

  They had next to nothing. All they had was their company and their kindness and the food they’d grown and foraged from the wild.

  Bryony’s eyes misted with tears as she remembered the words he’d written to her.

  ‘He really wanted you to go with him,’ Georgia said.

  ‘I know he did, but I just couldn’t.’

  ‘All his postcards to me said how much he was missing you. I kept telling him to move on. I told him that when he came back too, but he still kept going on about you. I don’t think he’ll ever stop loving you.’

  ‘I think he might have stopped now,’ Bryony said. ‘After what I did to him.’

  ‘Look,’ Georgia said after a moment, ‘he’d kill me if he knew I’d told you so you mustn’t say anything, but he’s teaching today. I’ll give you the address.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘He might be denying it at the moment, and I still haven’t personally forgiven you for that mean trick of yours, but I truly think you guys are meant to be together. I mean, if you two can’t make it to a happily ever after then there’s no hope at all for the rest of us.’

  ‘I won’t mess it up this time,’ Bryony told her. ‘I promise.’

  ‘You’d better not!’

  They held each other’s gaze for a moment and then Bryony leaned towards Georgia and hugged her.

  ‘Thank you.’

  Bryony looked through a few more pages of the photo album.

  ‘You know,’ Georgia said, ‘there was always one thing that puzzled me.’

  ‘What’s that?’ Bryony asked.

  ‘Didn’t you notice?’

  ‘Notice what?’

  ‘That he was wearing sunglasses the day he left?’ Georgia said.

  ‘Yes, I did.’

  ‘But you didn’t ask why?’

  ‘I thought he wanted to avoid eye contact with me,’ Bryony said, remembering the horrible goodbye scene in her shop.

  ‘That wasn’t why he was wearing them.’

  ‘Then why?’ Bryony asked.

  Georgia shook her head. ‘You’d better ask Ben. He might finally be ready to tell you.’

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Bryony didn’t waste any time. After thanking Georgia again and giving her a big hug, Bryony left with the address of the college written down. That fifteen-minute drive was the longest in her life and she cursed every slow-moving tractor and traffic light that held her up. Georgia said Ben would be home that evening, but Bryony simply couldn’t wait that long. Nothing else seemed to matter to her but seeing Ben as soon as possible.

  Reaching the college, she parked her car and walked into the building. She was looking for the English department, but didn’t want to ask anyone for fear of being thrown out. How difficult could it be? Ben had navigated his way around the world; surely Bryony could find a classroom.

  It didn’t take her long and, as luck would have it, she timed it for the end of a lesson when the bell went and a dozen students filed into the corridor, leaving the door of the classroom open. And there he was: her Ben, standing with his back to the door as he sorted through a pile of books which had been messily heaped on his desk. He was wearing a jacket she didn’t recognise. He looked smart. The role of teacher became him well and she bet her life that several of the students had big crushes on him, beard or no beard.

  She watched him for a moment, not daring to speak, and then he looked up. A brief elation lit his eyes, as if he’d forgotten all about their last encounter, but then a frown darkened his face.

  ‘What do you want?’ he asked.

  Bryony walked into the room. ‘To talk to you.’

  ‘I thought you’d said all you wanted to say to me at the dance.’

  ‘No, Ben. I said all the wrong things to you then and I’ve come to apologise because I didn’t mean them.’

  ‘No? Look, Bryony, if you want to talk to someone, why not try that nice baker of yours?’

  ‘Colin? I’ve told him how I feel.’

  ‘Good, I wish you both well.’

  The anger of his words hurt her, but it was the least she deserved.

  She took a deep breath, refusing to give up now.

  ‘I’ve told him,’ she began. ‘I’ve told Colin how I feel about you. He didn’t need telling as it turned out. He knew from the start. I think everybody knew. Except me.’

  She watched the expression change on Ben’s face. There was a slight softening around the eyes which encouraged her to continue.

  ‘I found that copy of Coot Club we took to Wroxham. One of the daisies you picked for me was still in its pages. It’s as bright as ever.’

  ‘What is this? You suddenly want a trip down memory lane?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I want us to talk, Ben.’

  ‘I thought we had been talking – I thought all those messages you sent me were the real thing.’

  ‘They were,’ Bryony assured him. ‘That was the real me talking to you.’

  ‘Yeah? And here I was thinking you were just reeling me in so you could dump me and have your revenge.’

  Bryony swallowed hard. She almost couldn’t bear to look at the pain she saw in his eyes, knowing that she had caused it.

  ‘Ben, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I should never have done that to you. I knew it was wrong – right from the beginning I knew it was wrong, but you’d hurt me so much! You’ll never know the pain you caused me when you left. I thought my life had ended.’

  ‘I’ll never know the pain I caused you?’ he said and gave a hollow laugh. ‘I’m feeling it right now.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said again. ‘I wish I could undo it.’

  ‘And I asked you to come with me, remember? I didn’t just leave you.’

  ‘But you put me in an impossible situation, Ben. You left without any warning. Mum had just given me control of the shop and Polly had just had Archie and needed extra help. I couldn’t leave all that. I didn’t want to leave all that.’

  ‘Fine. You made your choice. Just like you did at the dance.’

  Bryony bit her lip. This wasn’t going well and she didn’t know how to rescue it. But then she remembered something.

  ‘Why were you wearing those sunglasses?’ she asked him.

  ‘What sunglasses?’

  ‘The day you came to say goodbye.’

  Ben started fiddling with some papers on his desk. It was clear he knew what she was talking about.

  ‘At the time, I thought you were trying to avoid eye contact with me, but Georgia said it was something else.’

  ‘You’ve spoken to Georgia?’

  Bryony nodded and Ben cursed.

  ‘Why were you wearing them, Ben?’ She walked towards him until only the desk stood between them. He was still fiddlin
g with his papers and Bryony reached a hand across the desk and placed it on his, stilling his action. She saw him flinch ever so slightly, but he didn’t remove his hand. ‘Tell me,’ she said. ‘I need to know.’

  It seemed like an age before he began to speak.

  ‘You remember my mum started seeing a new guy?’

  Bryony nodded. ‘Paul, wasn’t it?’

  ‘Paul Caston,’ Ben said, a barely disguised look of hatred on his face. ‘Georgia and I knew he was no good the minute he walked into our mum’s life, but she was blinded by his artificial charm. He was always buying her things. Stupid little gifts like glass unicorns and ceramic roses. She thought it was true love, but I knew she was just pleased to have a man in her life after dad. It must have been tough for her and I wanted her to be happy, but there was nothing in Caston that was good. You could always smell booze on him for a start. He seemed to have a can of something or other permanently glued to his hand. He’d start really early too, swigging his disgusting cans at the breakfast table. The house stank. I told Mum he was a dangerous drunk but she always defended him. She said he’d been laid off from work recently and was going through a rough patch. But he was just using Mum.’

  Ben paused before continuing.

  ‘He moved in shortly after they started going out. He ate all our food and did all his washing at ours. I don’t think he had his own place. I think he just moved from one gullible woman to the next.’

  ‘And your mum didn’t see this?’

  ‘You don’t see what you don’t want to see, do you?’ Ben replied. ‘Georgia and I tried to keep out of his way, but you could see he resented us being there. He wanted Mum all to himself and we got in the way. He was like a kid – jealous and petulant if he didn’t get his own way. Anyway, after a couple of months of this nonsense, I told him to leave.’ Ben paused.

  ‘And what happened?’ Bryony asked. She was still holding his hand.

  ‘He told me to leave.’ He gave a shrug. ‘After that, we both seemed to lose our temper at the same time, only I never raised a hand. But you could see Paul had been itching to take a swing at me for weeks. I could smell the booze on him as he punched me in the gut. I called him a drunken pig. Well, I actually called him something else.’ He gave a grim grin at the memory. ‘Then he punched me in the face. Gave me a black eye.’

  ‘Oh, Ben! And that’s why you were wearing the sunglasses? To hide the black eye from me?’

  ‘And that’s why I had to leave,’ Ben said. ‘I couldn’t stay. Not after that. One of us would have killed the other. I’m sure of that. And I couldn’t bear to be near him. I told Georgia to get away from there and not to come back. I hated leaving her almost as much as I hated leaving you, and I desperately wanted to protect Mum, but she just wouldn’t listen to me even after I showed her my black eye.’

  ‘But why didn’t you tell me all this, Ben? You should have told me what was going on.’

  ‘It was family stuff. You didn’t need to be involved.’

  ‘How can you say that? We were together, weren’t we? That’s exactly the sort of thing couples should face together. You can’t cherry pick what you share. If you’re truly with somebody, you should get the whole package – not bits and pieces. Not highlights.’

  Ben took a deep breath. ‘I guess I wanted to protect you from it all. From Paul Caston. I didn’t want him sullying your life and, when I was with you, I certainly didn’t want to talk about him. What we had was so good, so pure.’

  She held his gaze for a moment and she could see the old Ben looking out at her.

  ‘Oh, Ben!’ she whispered. ‘We could still have something good. It might not be as pure anymore, but it could be good. I think there’s still something between us.’ She paused. ‘Don’t you? I tried to deny it. All those years you were away, I tried so hard to move on. I dated – disastrously – and I did my best to forget about you, but the truth is simple. There isn’t anybody for me but you, and I regret not going with you so much. I should have been there with you, by your side, in all those places, but I was afraid. I was too afraid to just up and leave home like that.’

  ‘I know,’ he said in a soft voice. ‘You were always happiest at home.’

  ‘I couldn’t even begin to imagine leaving Castle Clare and I know that might make me dull and boring –’

  ‘You’re not dull and boring,’ he interrupted. ‘I knew it was a big ask.’

  ‘I should have gone with you.’

  ‘No. No. It wouldn’t have been right for you. It wouldn’t have worked. I realise that now.’

  There was a pause.

  ‘I wish you hadn’t stopped writing to me,’ she confessed.

  He frowned. ‘But you never wrote back.’

  ‘I might have done.’

  ‘What, after two years of not writing to me?’

  ‘I reckon year three might have produced a short note.’ She gave a tiny smile and Ben shook his head.

  Bryony squeezed his hand. ‘Can you forgive me?’

  They held one another’s gaze. His expression had softened now.

  ‘We’ve wasted a lot of time, haven’t we?’ he said.

  ‘We can make up for it.’

  ‘You know I was seeing other people when I was away?’ he told her. ‘After I stopped writing to you, I mean. I thought you’d moved on and I tried to as well.’

  Bryony nodded. She hadn’t expected him to remain a monk.

  ‘Anyone special?’ she dared to ask.

  ‘Nope,’ he said. ‘How could they be when they weren’t you?’ He moved out from behind the desk and, with one swift moment, he’d captured her face in his hands and kissed her fully on the mouth. Bryony almost buckled at his touch. She’d forgotten what it was like to be kissed by Ben. His was the only kiss she’d ever craved and his touch was the only one which lit her up so completely.

  ‘Ben!’ she cried. ‘I’ve missed you so much.’

  He ran a hand through her hair. ‘I’m here now.’

  ‘And you forgive me? I need to hear you say it if you do.’

  ‘I forgive you,’ he told her, kissing her again. ‘Do you forgive me?’

  ‘Yes. Yes! Of course I do. I love you!’

  ‘Good!’ he said. ‘Because I love you too.’

  Suddenly, they were both laughing like the children they used to be – the Ben and Bryony who had grown up together, who had defied school teachers to sit next to one another, who had swapped books and read aloud to each other on river banks. Years of tension, recriminations and regrets dissolved in that one moment. They were together again and, this time, it would be forever.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  ‘Who’s he?’ Grandma Nell asked from the end of the dining table.

  ‘It’s Ben,’ Grandpa Joe explained as he placed a spoonful of peas on her plate. ‘Bryony’s Ben. They’re back together again.’

  ‘Oh, she likes him now, does she?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘And that’s him there, is it?

  ‘Yes,’ Grandpa Joe said patiently.

  ‘He’s shaved that beard off,’ Bryony said as she helped herself to roast potatoes.

  ‘I wish you’d given it to me,’ Archie said.

  ‘Maybe you’ll have your own one day,’ Polly told her son.

  Archie stroked his face as if trying to imagine it and Bryony smiled as Ben’s hand sneaked towards hers under the table and held it.

  Bryony still couldn’t believe that she and Ben were together again. Since their happy reunion in Ben’s classroom they had hardly been apart, spending as much time together as possible. After all, there was six years of catching up to do and they were determined not to waste a single moment. Ben told her all about his travels. He also filled her in on the whole Aria business. Bryony had been outraged for him and then felt awful at having been the second woman within a week to hurt him so badly and had apologised all over again. He’d milked it for a moment. Just a moment.

  Bryony had told Ben a
ll about Polly’s ex-husband Sean and how the wonderful Jago had come into her life at just the right moment. She’d also told him about every single awkward customer who’d come into her shop over the last six years. In return, Ben told her about every single travel delay he’d had. They’d commiserated with one another, confessing that, at the time of each awkward customer and every travel delay, they’d longed to reach out to each other and share the moment.

  They’d longed to share every single wondrous moment too. Ben had stored up so many amazing stories and Bryony wanted to share all her family funnies too. They talked themselves hoarse and laughed until their bellies ached.

  Ben and Bryony. Together again.

  The Nightingale family were thrilled but not at all surprised to welcome Ben back into the fold.

  ‘So, when’s the wedding?’ Grandpa Joe asked.

  ‘Grandpa!’ Bryony cried.

  ‘What? It’s a valid question. We’re not getting any younger at this end of the table,’ he told them with a chuckle, leaning towards Nell to give her a kiss on the cheek.

  ‘What was that for?’ Grandma Nell barked, taken aback.

  ‘Because you’re you,’ Grandpa Joe told her.

  ‘I hope you don’t turn into them,’ Josh said, ‘all lovey-dovey at the dining table.’

  ‘It’s cute,’ Bryony told her uptight brother. ‘And you wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for all things lovely-dovey.’

  Josh held his hands up. ‘I’m stopping this conversation right now.’

  Everybody laughed at that.

  ‘I’m so glad to see you back together again,’ Eleanor told them. ‘It’s –’ she paused, ‘right.’

  Lara, who was home from university for the weekend, beamed at them. ‘Like Gabriel Oak and Bathsheba Everdene – you found your way to each other in the end. Pass the carrots, Sam.’

  ‘Oh, God! I hope not like that,’ Josh said.

  ‘Yes, there weren’t quite so many tragedies on the way,’ Sam pointed out as he passed the carrots to his youngest sister. ‘I see you more like Pop and Ma Larkin – you’re a natural fit. You’re meant to be.’