Eleanor laughed. ‘This might not end well for me!’
‘Oh?’
‘It seems ridiculous, but I suppose in a way I’m asking you for your father’s hand in marriage.’
It took Cass a few seconds to work this out. ‘You want to marry Dad?’
‘Yes. How would you feel about it? I know if you were remotely uncomfortable, Howard wouldn’t do it.’
‘Oh, Eleanor! I’d be delighted. I want Dad to be happy and I think you’re amazing – putting up with him is fairly amazing – but if you actually want to do it, that’s brilliant.’ She cleared her throat. ‘Are you and he – in love?’
‘We are. Strangely.’
‘You know he’s always been a bit of a—’
‘Ladies’ man? Oh yes. I’d be going into this with my eyes wide open.’
‘I suppose now he’s … a bit older—’
‘Age doesn’t really change basic behaviour, but wereally are in love and I think he knows if he wants to stay on the island – and he does – he needs someone beside him – someone who is in love with him. That’s me.’
Cass rubbed Eleanor’s arm, not knowing quite what else to do. ‘That’s lovely. Very romantic.’
This made Eleanor really laugh. ‘Actually, it’s a lot more romantic than I make it sound. What will your mother think about it?’
‘She’ll be happy. She and Dad get on pretty well.’
‘Great! We would still have got married if your mother didn’t approve but we’d much rather everyone was on board with the idea.’
‘Er – I’m not an only child, you know,’ said Cass. ‘I have stepbrothers and a stepsister. Although of course it’s none of their business, they would have an opinion.’
Eleanor laughed gently. ‘If we wanted a blessing from everyone we’d never get it. My sons from my first marriage are being a bit sniffy about Howard, but if the people we really care about are happy, than so are we.’
‘Happy to confirm I’m happy!’ said Cass.
Eleanor smiled and started the engine. ‘Well, that’s my love life sorted, now let’s pay attention to yours.’
‘Agh!’ Cass’s protest came out louder and wilder than she’d intended. ‘No, really, Eleanor, I don’t have a love life.’
‘When people are in love with people – even if they only think they are – they go two ways. Either they talk about them all the time, find every opportunitythey can to bring them into the conversation, or they carefully never mention them at all.’ She pulled away and headed off down the road. ‘You and Ranulph shared a massive adventure and yet you seem to have completely edited him out of the picture. And anyway,’ she persisted, ignoring Cass’s squeak of protest, ‘I remember seeing you look at him – just once, no one else would have noticed – before you both set off.’
‘God, I hope he doesn’t know how I feel.’
‘He probably doesn’t. Men are awfully dense sometimes. I thought you might like to see his house.’
Cass gasped in shock. ‘He’s not there, is he?’
‘No! He’s still in Dominica. He’ll tell me when he’s coming back. I buy groceries for him. I just thought you should know where he lives.’ She paused. ‘I have the key if you want to go inside.’
Just for a second or two, Cass was tempted. ‘No. That would be wrong. But I won’t say no to a quick peek at the outside.’
It was delightful, Cass thought, once they stopped outside it. Traditional, lovely views and very secluded.
‘What you have to think about is,’ said Eleanor, ‘could you live here? It’s not for everyone.’
‘I don’t know,’ said Cass after a few moments. ‘My heart says I could live anywhere Ranulph is, but could I? It’s academic anyway because he’s never going to fall in love with me, even if I agreed to live with him in a dungeon. And this is far from that.’
‘Why have you given up on him? Why do you think he’ll never fall for you?’
