The Long Way Home: A moving saga of lost family

by Whitmee, Jeanne

  ‘No one here but me at the moment,’ he explained. ‘My wife passed away last year. I’ve got a daughter, Sharon. She used to work with me, but she got married two months ago and moved over Suffolk way.’ He shook his head. ‘You never realise what your family means to you till they’ve gone.’

  ‘I’m sure you’re right.’ Leah looked round her. It was sadly obvious that the place had lacked a woman’s touch for some time.

  Dick Johnson moved behind the bar where he suddenly looked much more at home. He peered at her enquiringly. ‘Like a drink, Miss — er …?’

  ‘Dobson,’ she supplied. ‘Leah Dobson. A lemonade would be nice. Thank you.’

  He flicked off the cap of a bottle of fizzy lemonade and poured it into a glass for her. ‘So, you’re looking for a spot of work to fill your time?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘How long for?’

  She shrugged. ‘We’re only here for another ten days, but I’ve nothing to rush back for. I daresay I could stay on a bit longer if I could find some accommodation — and if you needed me.’

  ‘Well, let’s see how it goes first, shall we?’ He looked at her speculatively. ‘Done bar work before, have you?’

  ‘No, but I’m sure I’ll soon pick it up.’ She sipped her lemonade.

  ‘I dare say you will at that. Won’t take long to show you how to pull a pint and work the till, and I can write up all the prices for you.’ He rubbed his hands. ‘Well, come and see where everything is. And if it’s agreeable to you, you can start this lunchtime.’

  ‘Hadn’t we better decide what I get paid first, Mr Johnson?’

  Dick looked at the girl perched on the stool on the other side of his bar and for the first time his face broke into a smile. ‘Thought you said you’d never worked in a bar before?’

  ‘I did say that,’ Leah agreed. ‘But I didn’t say I was going to work for the benefit of the experience.’

  Dick threw back his head and roared with laughter. ‘Bugger me if that don’t sound just like my Sharon talkin’. Reckon you’n me is going to get along fine, girl,’ he said.

  Leah was on her way back to the cottage when she met Colin Mays. He was piling all his equipment into an ancient Mini, parked outside the courtyard gate.

  ‘Oh. You’re not leaving?’

  He looked up at her with a grin. ‘No. I borrowed a car from a friend in the village. I’m just off to Blakeney to paint. The light on the water is wonderful at this time of year.’ He pushed his folded easel into the back of the car and straightened up. ‘Haven’t seen much of your boyfriend since you’ve been here. Don’t you go about together in the daytime?’

  ‘He’s working,’ Leah said. ‘Doing a series of features for the paper he works for.’

  ‘And neglecting you? Shame on him. I’ve seen you walking by yourself. Why do you never stop for a chat?’

  To her intense annoyance Leah found herself blushing under the scrutiny of the frank hazel eyes. ‘I like being alone,’ she said defensively. ‘And Terry’s a friend, not a boyfriend. I just came along with him on this trip because I was at a loose end.’ She looked at him. ‘As a matter of fact I’ve just got myself a job at the pub. I start this lunchtime.’

  His eyebrows rose. ‘At The Mermaid? Well, you won’t get much solitude there. Old Dick Johnson’s trade will go up by leaps and bounds when word gets around that he’s got a pretty new barmaid.’ He regarded her with an amused expression, one hand on the car’s roof, his long sinuous body perfectly at ease. Everything about him spoke of sensuality as Leah was acutely aware. ‘You still haven’t explained why you never stop to speak to me,’ he said, his eyes holding hers.

  ‘Simple. I don’t like interrupting people at work,’ she told him. ‘Especially artists. Terry hates interruptions.’

  ‘The man must be mad,’ Colin muttered under his breath. ‘Well, I hereby give you formal permission to interrupt me any time you feel like it,’ he said as he opened the car door and folded his length into the driving seat. ‘See you later, Leah. ’Bye.’

  *

  That first lunchtime Leah hardly knew whether she was on her head or her heels. She hadn’t realised that there were so many tourists in Cleyboum — or so many locals either, for that matter. She was kept busy right till closing time. As she and Dick were tidying up after closing he congratulated her.

  ‘You did well, girl.’ He eyed her sky blue cotton dress appreciatively. ‘Nice to have sumthin’ good to look at behind the bar again. Several people said so.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Leah polished a glass thoughtfully. ‘One thing I noticed though. You don’t serve any food. Lots of people asked me if we did lunches.’

  Dick shook his head. ‘We did when the wife and young Sharon were here. Couldn’t manage it on me own though.’

  ‘You could if you had a microwave. You could buy in pies and frozen veg and just heat them up, and salads are easy. Have you got a freezer?’

  He looked surprised. ‘Well — yes.’

  ‘Then you could always have a supply of fresh sandwiches and other quick savoury foods. It would increase your profits.’

  Dick laughed heartily. ‘You’re a caution, girl, and no mistake. Tryin’ to teach your grandmother to suck eggs, are you?’

  Leah looked at him haughtily. ‘Mr Johnson, my name’s Leah not “girl” and if my grandmother needs teaching how to suck eggs, then I’ll be only too happy to teach her.’

  Dick stared at her, open-mouthed, and while he was recovering she hung up her tea towel and began to get ready to leave. ‘Tell you what,’ she said. ‘Pay me extra and I’ll spend the afternoon making sandwiches for the freezer. I could go down to the quay for fresh crabs if you like. The cafés on the coast road charge a bomb for a fresh crab sandwich.’ She looked at him, her head on one side. ‘What do you think then, Dick? Are you on?’

  His surprised face broke into a grin. ‘All right then gir — er, Leah. We’ll give it a try, buggered if we won’t.’

  *

  Leah’s bar food was a great success. By the end of the week Dick was doing a roaring trade at lunchtimes. Trade picked up considerably in the evenings too when customers realised they could buy a light supper snack to go with their evening drinks. Leah found she was enjoying herself enormously. She enjoyed creating attractive meals and thinking up new ideas. She soon got to know a lot of the regulars by name and enjoyed meeting the visitors and chatting to the many artists who patronised the pub too. As the time for departure grew nearer she found herself wishing that she could stay on. She voiced the thought to Terry a couple of nights before he was due to go back to Nenebridge. He looked thoughtful.

  ‘Maybe I could get the cottage for you for another couple of weeks,’ he suggested. ‘I’ll give Paul a ring and see, shall I?’

  He went out to the public callbox and came back ten minutes later, his face wreathed in smiles.

  ‘Guess what? The place is yours for as long as you want it. Paul says it isn’t booked any more till next Easter and you can have it for a peppercorn rent just to look after things for him. It means I’ll be able to come down from time to time and report on what I’ve managed to find out for you.’

  ‘Oh, Tel, you are clever.’ She threw her arms around his neck and gave his cheek a resounding kiss. ‘What would I do without you?’

  He reached up and took her arms from round his neck. Holding them firmly to her sides he looked into her eyes.

  ‘Don’t do that, Leah,’ he said gravely.

  ‘Sorry. Why not?’

  Because I like it too much, he wanted to say. Instead he smiled wryly. ‘Better not.’

  ‘But why?’

  For a moment he looked into the melting brown eyes and was almost lost. ‘Because — if we’re to remain friends, if I’m to help you to do what you’ve set your heart on, better not to let things get complicated.’

  ‘I don’t see why they should.’

  ‘No, I don’t suppose you do.’ He smiled at her wistfully. ‘But they
would. Friendship is one thing, a relationship another. We’re happy as we are — yes?’

  ‘Yes.’

  He smiled. ‘Exactly.’

  *

  Dick was more than pleased that Leah could stay on to help out for a few more weeks. She worked hard after Terry had left, filling the freezer at The Mermaid with sandwiches of every kind. She also made various kinds of soup from some of Granny Dobson’s favourite recipes, poured it into neatly labelled plastic pots and stacked the freezer with them too.

  ‘Even if you don’t sell it all you can eat it yourself in the winter,’ she told Dick. ‘But I’ve an idea that my gran’s soup will go down well in the winter here, even with the locals. It’s all made from traditional Norfolk recipes.’

  Dick was more than pleased. When this saucy young woman had first presented herself at his side door, asking for work, he’d taken her for a flighty young fly-by-night, but he’d been wrong. She was a real worker, and interested in the business too. He only wished he could offer her enough money to keep her on all winter, but trade fell sharply in the offseason. He only kept the place ticking over. Besides, he shrewdly guessed that she’d soon be restless and wanting to move on anyway.

  Since Leah had been working at The Mermaid Colin Mays had become a regular lunchtime customer, and one day towards the end of the first week after Terry’s departure he waited for her to come off duty and walked back to the cottage with her.

  ‘You must miss what’s-is-name — Tommy?’

  ‘Terry? Yes, I would have, but I’ve been too busy.’

  ‘So I’ve noticed. What do you do with yourself in the afternoons?’

  ‘So far I’ve stayed on to work at The Mermaid, but I’ve filled the freezer now so I’m at a loose end.’

  ‘Come painting with me this afternoon instead.’

  She looked at him in surprise. ‘But I don’t paint.’

  ‘That needn’t stop you.’ He looked up at the sky, his eyes narrowed against the sunlight. ‘Look at that cloud formation. I thought of going out to the point this afternoon, in the hope of catching a spectacular sky.’

  ‘Sounds nice.’ She smiled at him. ‘All right then, I’ll pack a picnic.’

  He grinned and dropped an arm across her shoulders. ‘I was hoping you’d say that.’

  *

  Leah lay in the long wiry grass, her eyes closed and the sun warm on her face. She loved working at The Mermaid, but just for once it was sheer heaven to be idle and she was enjoying it. She’d watched Colin paint for the first hour, but now she was luxuriating in sheer laziness. She wrinkled her nose as something tickled it and opened her eyes to find Colin trailing a piece of grass across her cheek.

  ‘I wasn’t sure if you were asleep,’ he said, stretching his length beside her, folding his arms behind his head. ‘Aah — wonderful, isn’t it?’

  Leah stretched like a cat. ‘Mmm, gorgeous. Hard to believe it can ever be cold and blowing a gale out here.’

  He turned, supporting himself on one elbow to study her face. ‘You have the most beautiful bones,’ he remarked, trailing one finger down her jawline.

  She laughed. ‘What a corny old line. That’s what artists always say in books.’

  He shook his head. ‘I mean it though. And your hair — so thick and black. Do you always wear it plaited like that?’

  She sat up and pulled the pins out, shaking it loose. ‘There, is that better?’ Released, her thick dark hair blew about her shoulders, giving her a wild, gypsy look. Colin smiled and nodded.

  ‘That’s how I’d paint you, if I were a portrait painter. As it is I’d never do you justice so I won’t even try.’

  ‘What about your hair?’ Leah reached round to the back of his head and untied the leather thong that held his hair in place. As it hung down on either side of his face she regarded him. ‘Mmm. If you had a beard as well you’d look like one of those Old Testament prophets.’ She laughed, and he took her face between his hands. For a moment he looked at her, studying her features intently, then he kissed her. The kiss left Leah breathless. It was like no other kiss she had ever experienced; long and searching and deliberate. He explored her mouth sensuously, drawing from her a response that was totally irresistible. At last their mouths parted. For a moment she looked up at him, all her surprise and delight shining in her eyes, then she reached up and drew his head down to hers again. As their lips met again he lay back and pulled her close, running his hand down the length of her spine until her body was moulded to his. She felt his hardness against her thigh and excitement stirred urgently within her. She murmured against his mouth:

  ‘Colin — oh, Colin.’

  ‘Not here. Let’s go back,’ he whispered. ‘I want to make love to you properly — in bed.’

  In the little bedroom under the eaves they lay together, naked on the big brass bed. It was cool and dim under the low ceiling and the only sounds that drifted in through the open window were birdsong and the rustling of leaves. Leah lay with her head on Colin’s chest. Her hair spread across his body like a black silken cloud. How could she ever have imagined that sex was overrated? she asked herself dazedly.

  When they returned to the cottage they had climbed the stairs silently, hand in hand. In the bedroom Colin had undressed her slowly, as though he were unwrapping some precious gift, examining her body with delighted appreciation. His firm cool hands and the light kisses with which he had covered every part of her, had driven her to a frenzy of desire, encouraging her to respond with a boldness that had surprised them both. She found herself stirred urgently into a need to please him as much as he pleased her, and some deep primeval instinct seemed to imbue her lips, her hands and body with the age-old secrets of love. He hadn’t hurried. There had been no urgent, frantic coupling as with Tom Clayton, but a slow mounting of passion, heightened by long kisses and sensual caresses. He had held back to bring her almost to fever pitch. And when at last their bodies had joined she had heard herself cry out; a cry of pure joyous animal ecstasy.

  Now they lay together silent, warm and close among the tangled sheets. Heart beating against heart, limbs entwined. Leah stroked the dark curls on Colin’s chest, her eyes trying hard not to see the hands on the bedside clock creeping round to five o’clock.

  ‘I’ll have to go in a minute,’ she said at last, stirring reluctantly. ‘It’ll be opening time soon.’

  His arm around her tightened. ‘Ring Dick — tell him you’re sick.’

  She raised her head to look at him, sorely tempted. ‘I can’t. He relies on me.’

  ‘He can cope for one evening.’ He smiled lazily. ‘I’d like to make love to you from now till morning.’

  ‘Do you think you could?’ she asked with interest.

  He laughed and pinched her bottom playfully. ‘Stay and find out.’

  ‘Oh, I wish I could.’ She sat up and looked down at him. ‘But I mustn’t. A job’s a job.’ She regarded him, her head on one side. ‘I could come back later though. If you wanted me to.’

  He grasped her round the waist and pulled her down on top of him. ‘Of course I want you to.’ He kissed her. ‘You’re sensational, Leah, do you know that?’

  She smiled down at him mischievously. ‘You’re pretty sensational yourself.’

  He ran a hand down the length of her body, making her shiver with pleasure. ‘Tell me, your friend — is he gay?’

  She shrugged. ‘How would I know?’

  ‘He must be or he couldn’t keep his hands off you.’

  Leah felt a sudden pang of disloyalty. Terry was a good friend. She’d have been lost without him and he’d promised to help her. She slid off the bed and began to pull on her clothes. ‘I must go now, Colin.’ He lay back, watching her lazily through half closed eyes. ‘I’ll walk down and meet you at closing time,’ he promised. ‘I’m taking no chances of losing you to some other guy. Not after this afternoon.’

  *

  Leah spent most of her off-duty time with Colin after that. In the afternoons
she accompanied him on painting trips, returning with him to the cottage in the late afternoon to cook a meal. And it was to Colin’s cottage that she returned each night after The Mermaid closed, to sleep with him in the big brass bed, making love till the small hours. In a very short time she knew without a shadow of doubt that she was in love.

  Suddenly her whole existence was filled with Colin. His vibrant shadow eclipsed everything. Nothing else seemed to matter. She longed for time to be suspended so that their summer idyll could last for ever. Colin’s appetite for her seemed insatiable, as hers was for him, and their lovemaking grew more imaginative and adventurous as the night followed night. Each day was merely the happy prelude to a night of delicious sensual pleasure in the arms of the man she loved.

  Once or twice she tried to broach the subject of what would happen when the summer ended and his tenancy of the cottage came to an end, but Colin always managed to steer the conversation on to a different track. She didn’t mind too much. What they had was much too good to spoil. Living from day to day, happy in her job at The Mermaid, returning joyfully to Colin each evening was all she wanted from life. She had never felt so happy or so well. Even Dick noticed the change in her. Her eyes and hair shone and her skin glowed, golden with vitality. She sang as she went about her work and her radiant smile was a joy to behold. The customers adored her and the trade at The Mermaid broke all records. As Dick remarked confidentially to one of his regulars: if there was some way to bottle that girl and sell her by the pint, I’d be a millionaire by now.’

  One afternoon after closing she walked home alone. Colin hadn’t put in an appearance at lunchtime, but she wasn’t worried. Sometimes he became too engrossed in his painting to notice the time. Letting herself into the courtyard, she was immediately aware of an odd feeling of emptiness. The door of number four stood open as usual and as she walked in she could hear the vacuum cleaner going upstairs. She opened the door to the stairs and shouted Colin’s name.